ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Ange Postecoglou pushing young players for Tottenham Hotspurs

Amid the tumult of Jamie Vardy’s return to the Premier League and the reminder of what he can still do at the age of 37, there came a glimpse into Tottenham’s future.

Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall were unleashed from the bench during the 78th minute of Monday’s 1-1 draw at Leicester City. Both are 18 — born 38 days apart and just a few weeks old when Martin Jol’s Spurs had that infamous tangle with the lasagne.

And their debuts indicate a shift in emphasis at a club which afforded fewer minutes to teenage players than any other in the Premier League last season, according to the numbers from data website Transfermarkt.

Jamie Donley, Dane Scarlett and Mikey Moore played six times as substitutes. Five in the 89th minute and one, Moore’s debut against Manchester City in May, in the 88th minute.

It left them bottom of a pile topped by Manchester United, for whom Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho tipped the scales, and Brighton who used eight different teenagers.

The numbers are misleading because Spurs are not an old team. Their starting line-up under Ange Postecoglou had an average age under 26, the fourth-youngest in the league.

But the team that finished the game on Monday night had an average of less than 24 years and that was without Wilson Odobert. The 19-year-old winger, signed in a £35million (A$68m) deal from Burnley on Friday, was awaiting work permit clearance.

It should be in order before they face Everton on Saturday. Moore, who turned 17 this month, is expected to feature increasingly this season. Spurs are young and getting younger under Postecoglou, who understands development having spent years in charge of Australia’s youth teams.

He is a motivational leader who inspires minds, and the feeling is that the younger players are more likely to embrace his football than those already set in their ways.

Postecoglou inherited a squad of players assembled for the needs of Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho, who not only like to play chiefly on the counter but who also put faith in older, more mature players.

Conte’s transfer demands started with veteran winger Ivan Perisic and did not include Djed Spence, who Spurs signed anyway from Middlesbrough.

The reluctance to blood youngsters left its mark. Some left in search of an easier pathway into first-team football. Sam Amo-Ameyaw and Jayden Meghoma left for Southampton at 16 in 2022. Amo-Ameyaw, a sub against Newcastle on Saturday, became the youngest to appear in the Premier League for Saints with a debut aged 17, in the final fixture of his first season there. Others were deterred from joining in the first place.

Both Mourinho and Conte would argue with some justification that the youngsters at their disposal during their time at Tottenham were simply not good enough. Mourinho handed debuts to Scarlett and Troy Parrott but neither were ready.

Indeed, Tottenham’s reputation for youth development has slumped from Tim Sherwood’s six months in charge in 2013-14, when he threw promising academy graduates into the team, including Harry Kane, Andros Townsend and Nabil Bentaleb.

Tottenham’s steps to address the issue started with a reshuffle of academy staff before Postecoglou arrived. Significant among the changes has been a willingness to compete more aggressively for the talent.

Beating Barcelona to Bergvall for £8.5m (A$16.5m) from Djurgardens in February was a statement of intent. Then, they hijacked Brentford’s move for Gray from Leeds at £30m (a$58m) and met the asking price for Odobert. Despite their youth, these three all arrive with first-team experience.

Spurs haven’t stopped there. Luka Vuskovic, 17, is a highly rated defender signed from Hajduk Split who will join after spending this season on loan at Westerlo in Belgium. South Korean winger Yang Min-hyuk, 18, will join in January from Gangwon.

But it all rests with Postecoglou and the minutes he can give them while being judged on results. He likes young minds to mould. His unrelenting attacking style suits the energy of young bodies.

But his priorities are not improving young players. The pressure will be on him to improve on last season’s fifth-place finish and the draw after dominating for an hour at Leicester was a disappointing start.

Chairman Daniel Levy will have his eyes on the Champions League places. And of course, the quest to end the awful record of one measly trophy this century.

Whether those pressures can be easily combined with improving these young players remains to be seen.