Soccer

A closer look at the Tottenham youngsters who earned their spurs in Budapest

Mikey Moore, Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Will Lankshear caught the eye in the Europa League victory over Ferencvaros.

Tottenham’s youngsters helped them to victory in Budapest on Thursday (AP/Denes Erdos)
Tottenham’s youngsters helped them to victory in Budapest on Thursday (AP/Denes Erdos) (Denes Erdos/AP)
By George Sessions, PA, Budapest

Ange Postecoglou started four teenagers in Tottenham’s Europa League win at Ferencvaros on Thursday but is not ready to label them as ‘Ange’s Angels’ yet.

Spurs boss Postecoglou laughed off the post-match suggestion in Budapest that his young quartet of Mikey Moore, Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Will Lankshear could be put in the same bracket as the Busby Babes or Fergie’s Fledglings.

Here, the PA news agency takes a closer look at the teenagers who had a memorable night in Hungary.

Mikey Moore

The youngster of the group, Moore’s potential has been known for some time in the Spurs academy and he made his debut as a 16-year-old against Manchester City in May. Plenty of clubs circled the London-born attacker but he signed his first professional contract at Tottenham on his 17th birthday in August and has backed up a strong pre-season with further cameos, which led to Thursday’s first start where he impressed throughout at Groupama Arena.

Archie Gray

Archie Gray joined from Leeds in the summer
Archie Gray joined from Leeds in the summer (Nick Potts/PA)

Gray is arguably the veteran despite only being 18 considering he was a key figure for Leeds in the Sky Bet Championship last season before his £40million move to Spurs this summer. With plenty of footballing royalty in his family in the shape of great uncle Eddie Gray and grandad Frank Gray, the versatile youngster has quickly gained Postecoglou’s trust and played right-back, centre-back, left-back and central midfield during his first few months in north London.

Lucas Bergvall

Lucas Bergvall has been compared to a youthful David Beckham
Lucas Bergvall has been compared to a youthful David Beckham (Bradley Collyer/PA)

With blonde hair, a cheeky smile and a wand of a right foot, it has not taken long for 18-year-old Bergvall to draw comparisons with a youthful David Beckham, but the Swedish midfielder could have ended up at Barcelona after they rivalled Spurs for his signature at the start of this year. In the end Bergvall was convinced to join compatriot Dejan Kulusevski at Tottenham and linked up with his new team-mates in July after he was given the farewell of a hero by old club Djurgarden.

Will Lankshear

If Bergvall has been compared to Beckham, an easy role model for Lankshear, 19, is Harry Kane after he was also released by Arsenal. Spurs snapped up the powerful forward in 2022 after a spell with Sheffield United and a prolific 2023-24 campaign for the Under-21s resulted in Premier League 2 success. It has been this summer where Lankshear has developed rapidly, which earned him a substitute appearance against Bayern Munich in August where he entered the pitch at the same time as Kane, who classily acknowledged his former team-mate on the touchline.