Tottenham Hotspur

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino excited to build English core at Spurs

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 18 November 2017

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino reveals that he is "excited" by the challenge of establishing an "English core" at Tottenham Hotspur.

Head coach Mauricio Pochettino has revealed his excitement at attempting to build an "English core" at Tottenham Hotspur.

Since arriving in North London in 2014, Pochettino has placed faith in English talent, whether that be promoting youngsters from the academy or signing players from other clubs.

Nine English players have featured for Spurs this season - with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Josh Onomah also impressing on loan at Sheffield United and Aston Villa in the Championship - and Pochettino has hinted that he will continue to believe in domestic players.

The 45-year-old told reporters: "We believe in English talent. The Under-17s, U19s and U21s make me believe even more in English talent and everyone realises, 'Oh we have good talent in our boys.'

"It's important to see. Of course, we can build a very good core of English players with our identity, coming through our academy, and players coming outside of England and English players coming from different clubs. It's an exciting challenge for us and exciting philosophy for us to build."

Five Englishmen - Eric Dier, Kieran Trippier, Harry Winks, Dele Alli and Harry Kane - are likely to start when Spurs face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.