'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The biggest provider to Southampton’s squad has been its Staplewood academy, the training facility in the Hampshire countryside that boasts Theo Walcott, Wayne Bridge, Gareth Bale and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain among its former alumni.
Of its current crop, 18 year olds Luke Shaw, Calum Chambers and Ward-Prowse are all established members of the first team with the latter pointed out by Pochettino as a role-model.
“James Ward-Prowse is an example of the player we are promoting, the player we want to have in this club,” he said at a press conference ahead of the game with Fulham. “In every training session he gives 100 per cent. He always has an immediate impact in what he does and he is still a player who is growing. He is a figurehead of the sort of player we are looking for at Southampton.”
The England under-21 midfielder started the season, alongside Shaw and Chambers, in the 0-1 win at West Brom, a game in which Pochettino played 8 English players, a seemingly one-club resistance to the Guardian’s findings that the opening weekend of the season was mostly inhabited by foreign nationals.
With Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana having earned call-ups to Roy Hodgson’s full-squad, as well as under-21 caps being handed to Jack Cork and Nathaniel Clyne, the fruits of the advanced training facilities down on the south coast are hugely encouraging, both for Pochettino’s Saints and for England.
A trip to the academy now will reveal construction work taking place, £15 million worth of extension work due to be completed in the Spring. It is a whole different world from the mess that Liebherr rescued back in 2009 and uttered his brash ambitions. The tag-line for the new-look academy is entitled “The Southampton Way”, signifying a club with a philosophy for progress and success.
At the moment, with Pochettino and his stylish, innovative methods at the helm, they are certainly on their way to realising far more than anything Liebherr ever envisaged.
Written by Adam Gray
Follow Adam on Twitter @AdamGray1250
You can follow O-Posts on Twitter @OPosts
