Tottenham boss Andre Villas-Boas has praised the Southampton academy system that produced Gareth Bale.
The Tottenham star has scooped three high-profile awards this week on the back of a scintillating season for the Premier League side.
The north London side are not the only top-flight outfit to have benefited from the south coast team’s vaunted youth production line.
Arsenal took both Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from them, while talented winger Adam Lallana has stayed at Southampton to become a fan favourite.
Villas-Boas compared the Saints academy to Barcelona’s La Masia that has famously produced the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta.
The Portuguese said: “Sometimes there are clubs that keep developing and nurturing players, then there are clubs that go for scouting.
“In Portugal, Sporting Lisbon is the development club and great players have come out of that school.
“They haven’t produced the results in the first team as they wanted in the modern era. Porto invest in a later stage and don’t develop the player.
“Southampton falls into the same category as Sporting Lisbon, like Barcelona, which is to nurture.
“But it is a great school of development – a bit like West Ham.”
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