Spurs must regret selling “the best CB outside the top 5 leagues” for £6m

They might not get the same attention as some of their rivals for it, but Tottenham Hotspur have an incredible academy.

In the here and now, Hotspur Way has produced some incredibly exciting talents who will surely be future stars like Mikey Moore and Luca Williams-Barnett.

Moreover, some of the best players in Premier League history have come through the North Londoners’ youth set-up, such as Harry Kane, Ledley King and even he who shan’t be named.

However, as well as the international superstars, the Lilywhites have produced several underrated players currently plying their trade around Europe, including one centre-back who’s one comparison to an incredibly valuable superstar.

Hotspur Way’s underrated stars

One of Spurs’ former academy gems, who some might not know played for the club’s academy, is Noni Madueke.

The Barnet-born winger was a part of the club’s youth set-up for quite some time, but despite efforts to keep him in the capital, he decided to take a leap of faith in the summer of 2018 and moved to Eredivisie giants PSV Eindhoven.

It didn’t take long for the Englishman to establish himself in the Netherlands, and by the time he moved to Chelsea for £30m in January 2023, he had racked up a haul of 20 goals and 14 assists in just 80 first-team appearances, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.35 games.

Since returning to England, the dynamic attacker has scored 17 goals and provided seven assists in 74 games for the Blues.

However, a hamstring injury he picked up a couple of weeks ago has put a halt to what was looking like a promising campaign.

Another academy gem who left N17 for the Netherlands is Irish striker Troy Parrott, who, after spending last season on loan with Dutch side Excelsior, decided to make his move to the country permanent, signing with AZ Alkmaar.

The former Lilywhites’ gem has already found the back of the net on 17 occasions in just 36 appearances this season and has provided three assists to boot.

So when Ange Postecoglou’s side lineup against him in the Europa League knockout rounds next week, they’ll have to be on top form, even if he failed to score in their league phase encounter.

However, it’s not just attacking talents who have gone on to have brilliant careers since leaving Spurs’ academy, as an international centre-back is thriving north of the border and has been compared to a Premier League titan worth an increible amount of money.

The Spurs academy gem who’s a £69m star in the making

It’s been a brilliant campaign for Celtic this season, as they pushed Bayern Munich all the way in the Champions League play-offs and have a commanding lead over Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.

One of the Hoops’ most important players this year, and in the seasons prior, has been Cameron Carter-Vickers, who joined Tottenham as an 11-year-old in 2009.

The American international would go out on several loan moves over the years, including one to Celtic in 2021, before agreeing a permanent move to Parkhead a year later for around £6m.

In all, the 27-year-old titan has made 148 appearances for the Glaswegian giants, scoring seven goals, providing two assists, and winning three league titles, three league cups, and two Scottish Cups.

During his time north of the border, the 18-capped international has won plenty of plaudits for his sensational displays, with The Athletic’s Alex Barker going as far as describing him as “the best centre-back outside of the top five leagues” last week.

On top of that, he’s also been likened to Manchester City’s Rúben Dias by FBref, which compares players in similar positions in the Champions League, then creates a list of the ten most comparable players for each one, and in this instance, has concluded that the Portuguese ace is the third most similar centre-back to the American.

The best way to see where this comparison has come from is to look at the underlying metrics in which the pair rank closely, including, but not limited to, passing accuracy, key passes, carries, dribblers challenged, interceptions and more, all per 90.

On top of the prestige that should come with such a comparison, it could also potentially reflect Carter-Vivkers’ future price tag should he leave Scotland.

For example, according to Football Transfers, the City ace is worth up to €83m, which converts to about £69m, and if the former Lilywhites ace is so statistically similar, why shouldn’t his price tag also increase?

Ultimately, it was probably the right decision for his future at the time to sell Carter-Vickers, but we can’t help imagining just how useful he would have been to Postecoglou this season.