Former Spurs coach explains how a ‘Dutch-style’ academy created Harry Kane
Harry Kane emerged from the Tottenham Hotspur academy to become a club legend, and now, Saul Isaksson-Hurst has explained how the coaching setup at the club helped such a talented player develop.
After breaking through at Tottenham in 2014, Harry Kane went on to become the club’s all-time leading goalscorer with 280 goals in 435 appearances (Transfermarkt).
The formidable marksman made the decision to leave his boyhood club last summer to join Bayern Munich in a deal which could end up being worth up to £100m (Sky Sports).
Despite this, Kane will forever be remembered as a Tottenham, and indeed a Premier League legend for his incredible goalscoring feats.
Much like Kane, Oliver Skipp progressed through the club’s academy and has gone on to forge a successful first-team career with the Lilywhites.
Tottenham’s academy had an interesting approach
According to Saul Isaksson-Hurst, the secret to the success of these players is down to the approach taken up by the club’s academy.
He told the Inside Track podcast (via Football Insider): “It was an interesting time at Tottenham and this is what happened. John McDermott, who’s now England’s technical director, was the head of the academy. Chris Ramsey as well, who was recently at QPR – two people who tried to do something differently.
“We had a different methodology and coaching style – more aligned to the Dutch-style that was based around ball mastery and one-v-ones. There were some really good players coming out of that. Obviously, Harry Kane came out of that batch.
“I spent a lot of time with the younger age groups. Oliver Skipp, for example, was a young player I worked with a lot at under-eights, nines, 10s and 11s. It was helping those guys with their ball mastery and one-v-one ability.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Harry Kane is an absolute anomaly when it comes to our academy to be honest. We’ve developed some fine players through the years, but I don’t think there’s enough coming through. Hopefully we’ll see more in the near future, as it looks like we’ve got a promising batch of players in the ranks.
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