LIVE
...

Follow us on

News

Photo: Conte calls up two 19-year-old prospects to Spurs first-team training before Leicester tonight

Add as preferred source on Google

Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte has been putting his players through their paces ahead of Spurs’ trip to Leicester on Wednesday.

The north Londoners will look to bounce back from their Carabao Cup semi-final elimination at the hands of Chelsea.

Conte is yet to lose a league game at Tottenham, who can climb back into the top five of the Premier League table with a victory.

Tottenham Hotspur Training Session
Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images

Meanwhile, their hosts sit 10th in the standings, having not played a league game since the turn of the year.

Conte called up two Spurs academy talents ahead of the Leicester game – Dermi Lusala and Marqes Muir.

“Just so skilful”

Lusala is a 19-year-old full-back from Edmonton who has been capped at youth level for England.

He attended St Ignatius College, which is close to the club’s Hotspur Way training base, and excelled in athletics.

Previously playing for Brentford until 2016, Lusala made his debut for the Under-18s while he was still at school.

He earned promotion to the Spurs Under-23s in the summer and has made one appearance for them to date.

Tottenham Hotspur Training Session
Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images

Lusala also has 28 Under-18 appearances and four UEFA Under-19 games under his belt.

In 2019, football.london wrote a feature article on Lusala, suggesting he “could become Mauricio Pochettino’s future right-back”.

A year later, Superhotspur described him as a “very attack-minded right-back who is able to combine both his attacking duties with his defensive duties very well.

“He is a good athlete who is quick and he gets up and down the flanks very well and effectively, he is also a very skilful player.

“And he reminds me in some ways of how Kyle Walker-Peters used to play as a right back at the same age, as Lusala is just so skilful and capable of beating players with both skill and pace.”

“A complete centre-half”

Meanwhile, Muir is a central defender who primarily operates on the right-hand side.

Tottenham Hotspur Training Session
Photo by Tottenham Hotspur FC/Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images

Having attended The John Lyon School in north-west London, he has been part of the Spurs academy set-up since he was eight.

Muir earned promotion to the Under-23s last summer and has nine appearances to his name at that age level.

In 2021, Superhotspur deemed the player a “complete centre-half. In the sense that I don’t think that there are any real faults to his game.

“He is an alert centre-half who is quick, has a great positional sense, has very good distribution and is courageous when defending.

“Really good at making blocks, owing to his fine positioning, the Londoner has so many very good and important attributes.”