Tottenham Hotspur have had a dismal season at domestic level, but there have still been some positives at the club this term.
The main positive for Tottenham is that they have a 3-1 first-leg lead in their Europa League semi-final tie with Bodo/Glimt.
Not only are Spurs favourites to reach the final, but from a long-term perspective, they have a talented young squad that’s set to grow.
Archie Gray is one such player, having lit up the Premier League since his £30million move from Leeds United last year.
And while Gray struggled in midfield against Liverpool in their last Premier League encounter, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou is not concerned.
Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou backs Archie Gray to ‘come back stronger than ever’
Postecoglou spoke to the press ahead of Tottenham’s trip to West Ham United on Sunday, where he was asked about Gray.
The 19-year-old was given a tough time by the new Premier League champions and Postecoglou was asked how he has reacted this week.
“He’ll learn enormously and again that’s another example of no career is linear,” Postecoglou said, as per football.london.
“Just because you start well doesn’t mean it always goes well, there are always challenges for young players.
“Archie’s been outstanding for us this year, and he was disappointed with the way the Liverpool game went, but he’s cracked down at training now and he’ll get another opportunity and he’ll grow from that.
“I think he’ll learn from that. I think the more we expose our young players to those kind of environments, we’ve seen the growth in others and including him this year.
“I’ve got no doubt he’ll come back stronger than ever and again it’s all part of the process of becoming the footballer he wants to be.”
Tottenham have five players in list of world’s 50 best young footballers
In recent years, Tottenham have worked hard to bring in some of the world’s best young players and turn them into established Premier League stars.
The likes of Pape Matar Sarr and Destiny Udogie arrived at Tottenham as relative unknowns and are now firmly in the Tottenham first-team picture.
Now, players from Tottenham make up one tenth of the list of the world’s 50 best young footballers.
Yang Min-Hyeok, Luka Vuskovic, Mikey Moore, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray were all named in Goal.com’s NxGn 2025 list, which came out in March.
Meanwhile, back in September Postecoglou said he loved watching Moore, Gray, Bergvall, Wilson Odobert and Will Lankshear in training.
He told reporters that he hoped all five would be “flying” by the time they’re 21 years of age and stressed that it’s Spurs’ responsibility to develop them.
