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@cornelius_blackfoot
Tenderloin you bring up a good point in terms of when is a youth player, your teams youth product, when he joins the academy at 12/15/17?
I'm probably just harking back to a time when players were spotted in the schools around the ground.
Spurs haven't been much better in this regards so I'm not one to talk, apart from Sol, and Ledley, we haven't had any youth teamers make the grade recently either. We've been buying promising young 'uns in from others, see Bale, Huddlestone, Lennon, Walker, Naughton, Dawson, etc.
And despite his time at West Ham, 'Arry was never one to give youth a chance...
Fairly upbeat about the youth set up now, despite only Caulker, and Rose (on loan to stoke) looking like viable first teamers. Youth set ups should be providing you with squad players, and putting money in the teams pocket if/when they don't prove good enough and can be sold on, for their own good and the teams, or making the grade and carrying that local swagger and spirit through into the team..