Every summer, changes come to the Tottenham Hotspur academy. Players age out of the U21s and either get added to the first team, get sold to another club, or are released to seek their footballing fortunes elsewhere. And then a new class of first year academy players are added, sometimes from the schoolboy ranks and sometimes after being signed.
The website Youth Hawk, which tracks statistics for players in English football clubs’ academies, tweeted a list of new players coming into the Tottenham academy, and you might recognize a few of the names.
Tottenham Hotspur first-year scholars 2017-18 #coys #U18PL pic.twitter.com/9wvGfMHvr8
— youthhawk (@youthhawk) July 16, 2017
If you can ignore the dark blue on black font that makes the last names super hard to read, you’ll notice Maurizio Pochettino, the 15-year old son of Mauricio Pochettino. While we’ve known that Spurs signed him for a while now, it’s nice to have confirmation. Maurizio is supposedly a winger, but at the academy level players usually end up playing in a whole host of positions as their education and training continue.
Likewise, Maximus Tainio’s signing was also leaked a while back. The son of former Tottenham player (and current scout) Teemu Tainio is also 15, though I can’t seem to find his position. He was previously in the academy of HJK Helsinki in Finland, the club where his dad ended his career.
There’s also Maxwell Statham, the son of former Spurs player Brian Statham. I don’t really remember him as he played before I was a Spurs fan, but he made 24 appearances as a defender for Spurs between 1987-1992, before being sold to Brentford.
You might also recognize the names Armando Shashoua (brother to Samuel, who is on the verge of breaking into the Tottenham first team) and Paris Maghoma (brother to academy player Christian and former academy player Jacques).