Can you win with kids? 

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The pressure on Ange Postecoglou to succeed at Tottenham this season couldn’t be higher. Despite initially surging to first place in the Premier League table in the opening weeks of the season, the Australian tactician saw his league campaign grind to a halt after Christmas. Spurs eventually stumbled to a fifth-place finish and while it was an improvement on the season before, fans of the club were forced to watch as Aston Villa secured fourth place and the promise of Champions League football. In no uncertain terms, Postecoglou will be tasked with making sure that doesn’t happen again. 

However, to secure a fourth-place finish this coming season seems like it will prove to be a monumental task for Tottenham. Not only have the club only achieved such a feat twice in the last six seasons, but they’ll be up against a Villa side that are spending considerable sums of money under Unai Emery, as well as well-stocked Manchester United and Chelsea squads that will be desperate to put their own misfortunes from last season behind them. Postecoglou will have to rebuild Tottenham’s squad while simultaneously making them stronger. And to do so the Austrian head coach and his backroom staff seem to be taking a rather bold strategy: trust in the kids. 

Tottenham’s summer rebuild 

So far this summer the North London club have already spent just under €52 million on two signings: 18-year-old Lucas Bergvall from Djurgården (€10m fee) and 18-year-old highly-rated midfielder Archie Gray from Leeds United (€41.25m fee). And while the signing of two relatively inexperienced players may seem like a bold strategy for a club with such large ambitions, it does fit in with the club’s wider strategy of getting the squad’s average age down since Postecoglou arrived last year. As we can see in the graph above, this summer’s signings have an average age of just 18, which is not only lower than last season’s average of 22.3, but also considerably lower than the club’s typical age profile for players signed under previous managers. Alongside the arrival of their new signings, Spurs have also moved on older players that have been deemed surplus to requirement, like Joe Rodon, Eric Dier, Ivan Perisic, Japhet Tanganga, Tanguy Ndombélé and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. The average age of those departed stars stands at a rather staggering 27.9 and that’s before Emerson Royal (25) reportedly gets sold in the coming weeks too. 

Postecoglou’s new-look Tottenham 

Interestingly enough, as things currently stand Spurs already have the third youngest squad ahead of the new Premier League season. Postecoglou’s side currently boast an average age of 24.7, which is not only lower than the league average of 26.0 but bested by all other clubs aside from Brighton (23.9) and Chelsea (23.0). However, a young squad is one thing but regularly picking a team full of young players and winning is another thing entirely. And, to Tottenham’s credit, last season certainly seemed to suggest that Postecoglou is intent on playing the kids whenever possible. 

As we can see in the graphic above, while the average age of Tottenham’s overall squad hasn’t changed a huge amount in recent years, the players picked by the manager each week have tended to be much older. For example, in Antonio Conte’s two seasons at the club the average age of his starting XIs was typically around two or three years older than the squad itself. This was because the Italian head coach preferred older, experienced players. But as we can see, last season under Postecoglou was the first time in the last five years that the starting XI average age was lower than the squad’s average age. Which was precisely because the Austrian head coach opted for younger players, both through necessity due to a large number of injuries and the emergence of excellent young players, such as Destiny Udogie, Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr. 

Whether Tottenham’s average age continues to tick downwards remains to be seen. After all, the club are still in need of a back-up striker and another winger, which may see Postecoglou sign a few experienced players to bolster his attacking line. But with players like the aforementioned trio, as well as Bergvall and Gray in his team, there’s no denying that Spurs are now on a different path under Postecoglou than they were under his predecessors. Whether it works and gets Tottenham back into the top four next season remains to be seen. But it may be a risk that could end up paying off for the North London club.