inkpenspur
Allan Nielsen
The full report from the Telegraph also mentioned that Spurs have the 4th youngest squad in the major European leagues!
Whilst remaining within touching distance of the Premier League’s top four Tottenham and Liverpool are building projects for the future. Both have exciting managers with observable philosophies and a young group of players with which to implement their plan.
While Jurgen Klopp has fallen into rather than built his squad, both he and Mauricio Pochettino have the perfect set of players to work with. Tottenham have fielded players with an average age of 24.7 years, the youngest in the Premier League, just ahead of Liverpool, with 25.5.
Average age of Premier League teams
Team Average age / years
Tottenham 24.7
Liverpool 25.5
Saudi Sportswashing Machine 25.6
Man Utd 26.3
West Ham 26.4
Aston Villa 26.6
Southampton 26.8
Everton 26.9
Chelsea 27.3
Swansea 27.4
Arsenal 27.4
Stoke 27.5
Leicester 27.5
Crystal Palace 27.7
Sunderland 28
Norwich 28.2
Watford 28.3
Bournemouth 28.4
Emirates Marketing Project 28.5
West Brom 29.2
Klopp is renowned for trusting in youth and will be grateful to Brendan Rodgers for assembling a squad that he will hope to be able to mould into the image of his footballing ideas.
In Joe Gomez and Jordan Rossiter Liverpool have fielded two of the four players aged 18 or under who have played in the Premier League this season, also making up six of the 10 appearances made by players in that age bracket. They have also given plenty of playing time to 19-year-old Jordon Ibe. Their three teenagers used this season is more than any other Premier League side.
Starts given to teenagers - Premier League 2015/16
Starts given to teenagers
Tottenham or Liverpool 13
Other teams 17
Martin Skrtel is the only player aged 30 or over to appear for Liverpool this season and do not expect that to change under Klopp (at least until January when James Milner turns 30). The new Liverpool manager got a first win under his belt on Wednesday night with a line-up including youngsters Cameron Brannagan, Joao Teixeira and Connor Randall. They may not be involved in the trip to Chelsea this weekend but this surely will not be their final appearance under the German.
Spurs have a yet younger team with Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Harry Kane, Ben Davies, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-Min and Nabil Bentaleb all given significant playing time. With these personnel Pochettino has a suitably malleable squad and a lack of egos that also suits the unassuming Argentine. Spurs’ squad is also the fourth-youngest in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues.
Pochettino’s commitment to youth is paying dividends, with Spurs five points off top spot, boasting the joint-best defensive record in the league and without a defeat since the opening day of the season.
Tottenham have the fourth-youngest team in Europe
Team Average age / years
Nice 24.12
Valencia 24.47
Bayer Leverkusen 24.54
Tottenham 24.7
Espanyol 24.91
Cologne 24.94
Marseille 24.95
Hoffenheim 24.97
Villarreal 25.01
Toulouse 25.1
At the other end of the spectrum, early leaders and title favourites Emirates Marketing Project have the second-oldest team after West Brom, with an average age of 28.5.
City added youth in Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne this summer, while Kelechi Iheanacho has been afforded increased game time, but the core of their squad is older than their rivals, with the likes of David Silva, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov all 29 or above.
Sterling and De Bruyne are their only regulars below the age of 27 and although for the time being City patently possess a winning formula; they will need further investment in youth in the coming years.
Cross-town rivals Manchester United have one of the Premier League’s younger squads and Louis van Gaal seems to be constructing a team for the future. Wayne Rooney, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Carrick drag their average age up but they have plenty of youth in reserve.
West Brom boss Tony Pulis has always been a manager with a rather short-term outlook and while he is likely to keep his team in the top flight the likes of Gareth McAuley, Jonas Olsson and Rickie Lambert are not viable options for years to come.
Both Chelsea and Arsenal have squads with an average age falling in the period Arsene Wenger calls ‘the golden age of a football player, 27-31, 32.’
Wenger targets players in this bracket and it will be a result of the intricacies of his work that Arsenal have a team at the earlier end of that scale. Chelsea fans may draw hope from the fact that many of their players are in their prime and it should only be a matter of regaining form rather than a complete overhaul to turn things around.
Whilst remaining within touching distance of the Premier League’s top four Tottenham and Liverpool are building projects for the future. Both have exciting managers with observable philosophies and a young group of players with which to implement their plan.
While Jurgen Klopp has fallen into rather than built his squad, both he and Mauricio Pochettino have the perfect set of players to work with. Tottenham have fielded players with an average age of 24.7 years, the youngest in the Premier League, just ahead of Liverpool, with 25.5.
Average age of Premier League teams
Team Average age / years
Tottenham 24.7
Liverpool 25.5
Saudi Sportswashing Machine 25.6
Man Utd 26.3
West Ham 26.4
Aston Villa 26.6
Southampton 26.8
Everton 26.9
Chelsea 27.3
Swansea 27.4
Arsenal 27.4
Stoke 27.5
Leicester 27.5
Crystal Palace 27.7
Sunderland 28
Norwich 28.2
Watford 28.3
Bournemouth 28.4
Emirates Marketing Project 28.5
West Brom 29.2
Klopp is renowned for trusting in youth and will be grateful to Brendan Rodgers for assembling a squad that he will hope to be able to mould into the image of his footballing ideas.
In Joe Gomez and Jordan Rossiter Liverpool have fielded two of the four players aged 18 or under who have played in the Premier League this season, also making up six of the 10 appearances made by players in that age bracket. They have also given plenty of playing time to 19-year-old Jordon Ibe. Their three teenagers used this season is more than any other Premier League side.
Starts given to teenagers - Premier League 2015/16
Starts given to teenagers
Tottenham or Liverpool 13
Other teams 17
Martin Skrtel is the only player aged 30 or over to appear for Liverpool this season and do not expect that to change under Klopp (at least until January when James Milner turns 30). The new Liverpool manager got a first win under his belt on Wednesday night with a line-up including youngsters Cameron Brannagan, Joao Teixeira and Connor Randall. They may not be involved in the trip to Chelsea this weekend but this surely will not be their final appearance under the German.
Spurs have a yet younger team with Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Harry Kane, Ben Davies, Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-Min and Nabil Bentaleb all given significant playing time. With these personnel Pochettino has a suitably malleable squad and a lack of egos that also suits the unassuming Argentine. Spurs’ squad is also the fourth-youngest in Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues.
Pochettino’s commitment to youth is paying dividends, with Spurs five points off top spot, boasting the joint-best defensive record in the league and without a defeat since the opening day of the season.
Tottenham have the fourth-youngest team in Europe
Team Average age / years
Nice 24.12
Valencia 24.47
Bayer Leverkusen 24.54
Tottenham 24.7
Espanyol 24.91
Cologne 24.94
Marseille 24.95
Hoffenheim 24.97
Villarreal 25.01
Toulouse 25.1
At the other end of the spectrum, early leaders and title favourites Emirates Marketing Project have the second-oldest team after West Brom, with an average age of 28.5.
City added youth in Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne this summer, while Kelechi Iheanacho has been afforded increased game time, but the core of their squad is older than their rivals, with the likes of David Silva, Yaya Toure, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov all 29 or above.
Sterling and De Bruyne are their only regulars below the age of 27 and although for the time being City patently possess a winning formula; they will need further investment in youth in the coming years.
Cross-town rivals Manchester United have one of the Premier League’s younger squads and Louis van Gaal seems to be constructing a team for the future. Wayne Rooney, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Carrick drag their average age up but they have plenty of youth in reserve.
West Brom boss Tony Pulis has always been a manager with a rather short-term outlook and while he is likely to keep his team in the top flight the likes of Gareth McAuley, Jonas Olsson and Rickie Lambert are not viable options for years to come.
Both Chelsea and Arsenal have squads with an average age falling in the period Arsene Wenger calls ‘the golden age of a football player, 27-31, 32.’
Wenger targets players in this bracket and it will be a result of the intricacies of his work that Arsenal have a team at the earlier end of that scale. Chelsea fans may draw hope from the fact that many of their players are in their prime and it should only be a matter of regaining form rather than a complete overhaul to turn things around.
