Young trio on 'invaluable experience' against Milan
Wed 01 August 2018, 13:19|Tottenham Hotspur
It was a proud night for the Club in Minneapolis on Tuesday as six Academy graduates featured in our starting line-up as we rounded off our International Champions Cup schedule with a 1-0 win over AC Milan.
And the three lads who were making their first starts for the senior side in a public game – TJ Eyoma, George Marsh and Oliver Skipp – all spoke afterwards about their delight in gaining such invaluable experience on the main stage.
The trio were joined in Mauricio Pochettino’s side by fellow youth products Luke Amos, Anthony Georgiou and Kyle Walker-Peters and all played the full 90 minutes bar Georgiou and Marsh, who were substituted 13 minutes from time.
Victory was secured thanks to Georges-Kevin Nkoudou’s fine goal in the 47th minute, the icing on the cake of a great night for the youngsters who didn’t look out of place against the Serie A giants.
“We had a young team and it was really nice to play with fellow Academy players who I’ve grown up with, some of whom I’ve been playing alongside for five or six years,” explained 17-year-old midfielder Oliver. “It’s special to share your first start for the first team with people you’ve grown up with and known for so long.”
George, 19, echoed those sentiments, adding: “It was a great experience for us Academy boys to all play together and it was great to get the victory as well,” while 18-year-old centre-half TJ said: “It was a great opportunity for us to show what we’re made of and we have to give a big thanks to the gaffer for giving us that opportunity. I think we did well.”
Talking to Spurs TV after the match at the fantastic US Bank Stadium – home of NFL team Minnesota Vikings – the three lads were asked what they would take out of their first team debuts in our colours.
“It was just a massive experience for all of us and it will give us the incentive to push on and hopefully get more chances like this,” revealed TJ.
Oliver added: “For me it was just to be playing against top opposition and testing myself in front of a big crowd. It’s brilliant to test yourself in the biggest challenges you can get.”
Midfield team-mate George said: “It was an invaluable experience that I’ll take with me into the rest of my career and hopefully I’ll try to push on from this now.”
AC Milan 0-1 Spurs
Georges-Kevin Nkoudou's goal secured victory in our final International Champions Cup (ICC) match against AC Milan at the US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Tuesday night.
Read how it all happened.