Spurs chase Newcastle youngster

French newspaper L'Equipe are claiming that both Liverpool and ourselves are chasing a young prospect at Newcastle United, Olivier Kemen.



The 18-year-old (19 in July) right footed central midfielder who is the captain of the French Under-19 side, has also played at Under-16, Under-17 and Under-18 levels. Last season he played 26 Under-21 Premier League games and was rewarded with three games on the bench for the senior team against Arsenal at home, Sunderland away and Spurs at home.

While Kemen didn't come on the object of the exercise with young players is two-fold, first it is used as a carrot to show them where they need to get to, give them inspiration and secondly to give experience of and help get them used to the whole match day experience.

The last thing you want is a youngster overawed when he gets an opportunity so a few games on the bench, often it is written into a contract that a player must have one substitute appearance for the senior team, helps acclimatise him to the occasion. It's a little different playing in front of 35,000 people or more than a few hundred.

Further Reading
Improving Defensively
Further scouting network improvements