OPINION
Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino can save Daniel Levy millions of pounds if he promotes Kazaiah Sterling to the first team for next season.
On Saturday, it was confirmed on Spurs’ official Twitter account that Sterling, 19, had agreed to sign a new deal at the North London club, which extends his stay there until 2021.
We are delighted to announce that Development Squad players Shilow Tracey and Kazaiah Sterling have signed new contracts with the Club until 2020 and 2021 respectively. pic.twitter.com/nNnV8LiD0p
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) June 30, 2018
Sterling has been rarely-seen by Spurs fans though and has so far just made the one senior appearance for the club, which came in the 3-0 win against APOEL Nicosia in the Champions League last season when he came off the bench for the final few minutes.
He was also an unused substitute in Spurs’ defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League in April – but now that he has been handed a new deal, he must be played more regularly.
Pochettino has had a lot of praise for putting faith in young English players, but he is yet to really do that for a striker.
Harry Kane will obviously be number one choice up front for Tottenham next season, but his back-up options of Fernando Llorente and Vincent Janssen have completely flopped in North London and Pochettino could nullify the need to replace one or both of them if he utilises the pacey Sterling next season instead.
It will be a bold move by Pochettino, but it’s definitely something exciting that fans will surely be in support of as they are very interested in seeing how the club’s young players can develop.
Sterling has immense potential and has proved in the Under-23s that he is ready for more first team football and as long as he is not loaned out by the end of August, then he surely has to be in Pochettino’s plans for 2018/19.