Tottenham Hotspur's class of 2019 have earned a tribute from an unlikely source.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has praised the way Spurs have developed their young talent under Mauricio Pochettino.
Last night Wenger was presented with a Lifetime Achievement prize at the Laureus World Sport Awards in Monaco. Since leaving Arsenal, Wenger has been linked to several jobs but he appears happy to bide his time and wait for the right offer.
When asked about the current Spurs team, Wenger was full of praise for Pochettino. “Tottenham have a good, young generation," said Wenger. "They have a core of young players such as (Harry) Winks, (Harry) Kane, Dele Alli and (Eric) Dier like we had at Arsenal.
“Manchester United had it too, with their Giggs, Scholes, Beckham and Butt generation, but now they (Tottenham) have established a good, basic platform to develop from. Tottenham’s players are maturing too so it will be interesting to see how they develop.”
When asked if Spurs could suffer the same fate as Arsenal when they moved to a new stadium - by not having enough money to make an impact in the transfer market - Wenger replied: "We built the Emirates without one penny injected by anybody. So, that means, this was all done on transfer policy, from the first to the last moment. We could only survive by having a good transfer policy, and by selling our best players.
“People forget that now because the finances of football have changed as the television money has improved a lot. The weight of a transfer is less today because television money has doubled compared to a few years ago.”
