The former coach of Tottenham had long desired to go and join the “best in the world.” Chelsea
Tottenham‘s opponents, Chelsea, have a different “mentality and approach” to their academy system.
Saul Isaksson-Hurst, a longtime former coach of Chelsea, Tottenham, and Arsenal for eighteen years who currently runs his own business coaching Premier League stars, asserted that the Blues’ youth setup was a “step up” from the Lilywhites’ on the most recent episode of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast.
Over the past ten years, Chelsea has developed a large number of outstanding academy players, such as Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham, and Dominic Solanke. All of these players earned their senior debuts at the Stamford Bridge club and have since established themselves as top-tier players.
Although Isaksson-Hurst pointed out Chelsea’s notable mentality difference and their ambition to become the “best academy in the world,” Spurs have also developed talented young players.
Isaksson-Hurst, who worked as a youth coach at Tottenham from 2006 to 2012 before moving on to join Chelsea for four years, insisted that Chelsea’s “aggressive” culture set them apart as a superior academy. The Chelsea academy ethos was a major “step up” from Tottenham‘s.
“I always wanted to work at Chelsea, even when I was at Tottenham,” he said on the Inside Track podcast.
In terms of attitude and investment, Chelsea was the biggest and finest team in England at the time.
“I often discuss how Tottenham had a fantastic academy, but Chelsea‘s goal was to be the greatest academy globally, which was a small mental difference.
They discussed how meticulously planned and prepared everything was.
“They made a mental and approachable step up.
“Maybe now that Man City has attempted to imitate that in the past ten years—those guys have been very successful in English academy football.”
“You can see that in Chelsea’s players when it comes to their recruitment procedure.
“They dominate and are very aggressive in recruitment.”
Leave a Comment