While £16m striker Vincent Janssen misses out on Tottenham’s 25-man Premier League squad, Maurizio Pochettino, son of Head Coach Mauricio, makes it. We give you the low down on the gaffer’s son.
Tottenham Hotspur’s final 25-man squad for the 2018/19 Premier League season has been confirmed. Vincent Janssen, Spurs’ £16m signing from AZ Alkmaar last summer, misses out after being ruled out with injury until December.
There are also of course no new names in this season’s squad as the well-documented fact is, no players were signed by Spurs this summer. Head Coach Pochettino clearly sees more talent coming through the ranks than on the open market, and none more so than closer to home, his son Maurizio.
Premier League rules state the 25-man squad is for over 21 year old players, but under 21’s don’t have to be named, yet eligible to play. Therefore Poch junior is just one of many outstanding prospects at Spurs’ disposal. Players such as Juan Foyth, Harry Winks, Kyle Walker-Peters and Marcus Edwards are all available along with young Maurizio as U21 players.
Unlike the Spurs boss, who played centre half for Argentina and Espanyol, 17-year-old Maurizio is a winger who has been in the club youth setup since Pochettino Senior’s arrival in 2014. Born in Barcelona while his father played for Espanyol, Maurizio has also represented Southampton and Paris Saint Germain at youth level.
According to Tottenham Hotspur’s Player Profile site, Maurizio (with a z) is a ‘wide player with an eye for goal’. He made his Under-18 Premier League debut in a 2-1 win at Southampton in September 2017, before scoring his first goal on his first start for the U18s in a 5-2 win at Swansea two months later.
Former Charlton, Chelsea and Spurs midfield enforcer, Scott Parker, has heaped public praise on the young talent in the last 12 months. Parker, who manages Tottenham Hotspurs U18’s, used Pochettino six times in the league last season and brought the wide-man on as a substitute on three occasions in the U18 Premier League Cup, a competition the team managed to reach the final.
Its unlikely Maurizio Pochettino will get a taste of first team football this season, however, his father believes exposure to the first team in training and being readily available if needed is the next step in his son’s development. It won’t be long before we see a Pochettino in the dugout and on the pitch.