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Cape Town - Tottenham Hotspurs manager Mauricio Pochettino heaped praise on the club's youngsters after promising performances in their pre-season friendlies.
Spurs beat Roma 4-1, drew 2-2 with Barcelona and edged out Milan 1-0 in their three International Champions Cup fixtures. The north Londoners will face Girona in their final pre-season outing on Saturday.
Pochettino gave a number of fringe players opportunities in those games and was impressed by what he saw from the likes of youngsters Luke Amos, George Marsh and Oliver Skipp.
"I'm happy for many young players who stepped up and behaved very well on and off the pitch," he told the press after beating the Rossoneri in Minneapolis.
"The quality of time that we spent together, training and competing with big sides like Roma, Barcelona and Milan, and the way they behaved made us very happy.
"They showed they have the potential to one day be consistent in the first team. I want to congratulate all the academy coaches because they've been working for a long time to produce these players for the first team."
Asked whether he would consider starting with Amos in Spurs' opening Premier League game against Newcastle, Pochettino replied: "After four years, in my fifth year, you think I'm going to be scared to play him?
"Is he ready? That's different. For the young players that maybe still don't have experience in high competition, the compensation is about desire and energy.
"Players like Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen, when they were young, showed desire and energy like the young players on the tour. After four years, you know that we're people who, if we believe in a young player, don't care about experience or not.
"Football is about energy, about desire, about respect for yourself and your team-mates, being professional. Of course, Luke Amos is a good example. He played three games of 90 minutes."
