We need to talk about Harry.
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Lukaku
Yeah, but he was doing it at 18 as well. So I'd argue his profile is different.
Is this on talent / suitability to our system alone, or is attitude / professionalism considered too? Read a brief article in the Echo today which mentioned Carra saying that between Ings and Berahino, he'd prefer us to pick up Ings. While he felt Berahino had a touch more class on the field, he felt there might have a bit of a bad attitude.
He was asked directly about Ings vs Berahino in the Sky coverage of the West Brom game at the weekend and that sums up his quotes. Ings played v well in the first half of that match too.
It's based on attitude and the fact that I believe Ings will score goals more consistently throughout his career. In many ways he reminds me of John Aldridge in that he doesn't seem to have any other talent than the ability to be in the right place at the right time and the ability to get the ball in the net with any part of his body. Some posters were against the idea of spending £5m on Ings but prepared to discuss the pros and cons of Berahino at £20m.....that just doesn't make sense to me.
Not so sure re: Ings - what he seems to have going for him is workrate and he has 4 assists this season to Berahino's 0.
Ings is decent with assists too, he reads the game very well and often runs into spaces to drag defenders out of position thus making room for his strike partner.
Berahino is similar to Defoe in that he's very quick over the first 5-10 yards which gets him space to get an attempt on goal. Ings, like Aldo, has no great pace and is no better than decent in the air BUT he reads the game so well he is in the right place at the right time consistently and is a clincial finisher.
Kane looks decent but he's got Eriksen, Chadli etc supplying the ammunition whereas Ings is feeding off scraps from players like Marney, Jones and Boyd. IMO if Ings was playing up front for Spurs he'd have at least as many as Kane.
One crumb of comfort is the thought that he's one of Inglethorpe's old proteges, so fingers crossed he brings on a few more like that here.
This is Inglethorpe speaking back in 2013:
“My job is to develop players to have a career here and I would happily come bottom of the reserve league if we sent the next Steven Gerrard to Melwood.
“For us to have young talent from within the area is everything for us. I’m desperate for that one player who can go on to become an iconic figure at Liverpool in the way that Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher have done.”
A glance at Inglethorpe’s CV tells you why Rodgers was so determined to secure his services. During his six and a half years as Spurs’ youth team coach, the 41-year-old provided a steady stream of Londoners into the first team squad.
Steven Caulker, Tom Carroll and Jake Livermore remain in Andre Villas-Boas’ plans, while Adam Smith (Millwall), Jonathan Obika (Charlton), Ryan Mason (Lorient), Andros Townsend (QPR) and Harry Kane (Leicester) are currently out on loan.
“My background is at a club where everything was focused on local talent,” he said.
“At Tottenham, it wasn’t about buying players. It was about getting boys for nothing from within 40 minutes of the training ground, trying to develop them and provide a pathway to the first team.
“Fortunately, that philosophy came through and there are lots of players from that group who have had Premier League starts and will go on to have significant careers.”
“My job is to develop players to have a career here and I would happily come bottom of the reserve league if we sent the next Steven Gerrard to Melwood.
“For us to have young talent from within the area is everything for us. I’m desperate for that one player who can go on to become an iconic figure at Liverpool in the way that Steven Gerrard or Jamie Carragher have done.”
A glance at Inglethorpe’s CV tells you why Rodgers was so determined to secure his services. During his six and a half years as Spurs’ youth team coach, the 41-year-old provided a steady stream of Londoners into the first team squad.
Steven Caulker, Tom Carroll and Jake Livermore remain in Andre Villas-Boas’ plans, while Adam Smith (Millwall), Jonathan Obika (Charlton), Ryan Mason (Lorient), Andros Townsend (QPR) and Harry Kane (Leicester) are currently out on loan.
“My background is at a club where everything was focused on local talent,” he said.
“At Tottenham, it wasn’t about buying players. It was about getting boys for nothing from within 40 minutes of the training ground, trying to develop them and provide a pathway to the first team.
“Fortunately, that philosophy came through and there are lots of players from that group who have had Premier League starts and will go on to have significant careers.”
Great little snippet. Sounds epic.
Much appreciated Macca! (i've decided in my mind that you are Gary Mac btw..)
Is this necessarily a good thing, @gkmacca ?
This appears to be a return to Heighway's method. Dont get me wrong, the sentiment is great, and I appreciate it. However I think one of the reasons why our youth team is looking so good is aggressively going after the best youngsters in England - Sterling, Ibe, Sinclair, Ojo, Dhanda and not just focusing on the local talents. Are we abandoning that policy now?
No, you make a good point, but it's not an either/or thing now at the club. It's just that in Ged and Rafa's time we practically pushed the parents of local kids to take them off to Everton, even when they were massive reds. Hardly anyone trusted us. So now we're looking to cherry-pick the best from elsewhere, whilst really working to ensure that we get as many as possible of the best local prospects. Simple, really, but we forgot that policy for about 20 years.
Yeah, I don't think that's an indication of a change in policy, but rather an indication of a desire to get good local players in to join.
I think since around the time Inglethorpe took over as director, for example, we've already brought in Antonio Magdar (Villarreal, Spain), Ovie Ejaria (ex-Arsenal) and Conor Quigley (Derry, N. Ireland) for the U18s, as well as picked up a couple of his ex-Spurs proteges in Vigouroux and Stewart for the U21s. It seems that we were also linked with a kid from Valencia in the summer - Fran Villabal - but he opted to stay put.
I don't believe Rodgers' brief to Inglethorpe would've been to emphasize on going local, given that he's benefiting from having Sterling and Ibe at his disposal.
I think since around the time Inglethorpe took over as director, for example, we've already brought in Antonio Magdar (Villarreal, Spain), Ovie Ejaria (ex-Arsenal) and Conor Quigley (Derry, N. Ireland) for the U18s, as well as picked up a couple of his ex-Spurs proteges in Vigouroux and Stewart for the U21s. It seems that we were also linked with a kid from Valencia in the summer - Fran Villabal - but he opted to stay put.
I don't believe Rodgers' brief to Inglethorpe would've been to emphasize on going local, given that he's benefiting from having Sterling and Ibe at his disposal.
What you say about Ings is what some people have been saying about Borini.
The weird thing was that first, Peter Robinson decided he wanted us to emulate Ajax in terms of youth development and built our own academy, then picked Houllier, because of his impact on French youth development, to oversee the transformation - only for Ged to bow to the pressure to improve the first team immediately and pretty much ignore the academy apart from as a shelter for mediocre French kids. Then Robinson goes, and it gets worse. Then Rafa comes in, improves the set-up whilst clogging up the academy with mediocre Spanish kids. Only we could start some project like that and feck it up so quickly. Thank goodness McParland, Kenny and now Rodgers and co are finally dragging us back on course.
You avoid playing for Spurs, sounds like a godsend to me.
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