The Tottenham Hotspur head coach will run the rule over various youngsters this summer and help decide their next steps
Tottenham have been busy in the transfer market with £237million spent and six new first-team players arriving but that has a knock-on effect for the club's youngsters.
There is no doubting that Spurs required an influx of quality this summer after back-to-back 17th-place finishes in the Premier League, but care must be taken that their present is not improved at the expense of their future. The absence of European football this season means Tottenham have fewer concerns about the homegrown issues and foreign player overloading that caused them problems in previous campaign.
However, if they intend to return to continental competition in future seasons that that will have to be fixed with either academy players coming through or youngsters signed and developed, otherwise they will continue to struggle to register players in the 25-man squad.
Roberto De Zerbi will give his assessment, with the help of first team transition coach Stuart Lewis and U21s boss Wayne Burnett among others, on the crop of young players between 17 and 21. The decision has already been made on Luka Vuskovic, who has joined Brighton in a £50million deal, while Alfie Devine has left for Preston after they took up the £6million option in the midfielder's loan deal.
We're going to take a look at 11 of those young players, but we're not including established first teamers such as Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Mathys Tel, who De Zerbi will already know well, or Dane Scarlett, who is now older than 21.
Let's start with the current Scottish Premiership Young Player of the Year:
Mikey Moore
football.london have previously reported that Tottenham have made it clear that Mikey Moore will not be for sale this summer and that's because the 18-year-old enjoyed a big season of development at Rangers and they have high hopes for him.
De Zerbi wants to take a look at the teenager who won the aforementioned Scottish Premiership Young Player of the Year and Rangers' Young Player of the Year awards. Moore enjoyed a big campaign that brought Old Firm Derby goals and 47 matches in total for the Glasgow giants across the season, with 11 goal involvements despite his age.
There's a huge amount of interest in the teenager from clubs both home and abroad and they are awaiting De Zerbi's decision on the attacker, who played off the left for much of his year in Glasgow.
Souza
Signed in January, Souza, who turned 20 last month, has been adapting to a new country, a new life and a very different league over the past six months. Dubbed 'the new Marcelo' back home in Brazil, the Santos fans were sad to see the left-back depart after helping them in their relegation battle to instead help Tottenham in theirs.
Souza would play just four matches for Spurs last season though across 144 minutes, his two starts coming as a right winger in the 1-1 draw at Liverpool in March after being sacrificed as the left wing-back after Micky van de Ven's first half red card against Crystal Palace in the previous Premier League game.
Former Tottenham boss Thomas Frank called Souza "one of the brightest left-back talents in the world" when he signed.
Andy Robertson's arrival though this summer to add to Destiny Udogie, along with Djed Spence being able to play on the left, means Souza is likely to be allowed to head out on loan next season to ensure he gets regular football to continue his development.
De Zerbi will make the final decision on that. You might have noticed the young Brazilian has not appeared in any pre-season footage yet and football.london understands that's because Souza has been ill in recent days.
Will Lankshear
football.london reported on Monday that Sporting, Wolves and Southampton have all had approaches to sign Will Lankshear from Tottenham turned down in recent days.
The 21-year-old starred in his first loan spell last season despite Oxford United's relegation from the Championship. Lankshear netted 12 goals for the strugglers which earned him their men's golden boot and Young Player of the Year award. In all he played 47 matches with 16 goal involvements to build on the previous season's breakthrough at Spurs in which he scored in the Europa League and made three Premier League appearances.
Such is the interest from sides in Lankshear that football.london understands the Portuguese giants Sporting and the two Championship clubs made approaches about potential offers in the eight-figure package range that involved either a straight permanent transfer for the forward or a loan move with an obligation to buy, and all of them were turned down by Spurs.
Lankshear has now returned to pre-season work at Hotspur Way, bulked up by the physical demands of the Championship. De Zerbi will get his first glance at him on the training pitches this week and a decision may be made on what comes next for him before the club's summer tour, which the squad will fly off to later next week to New Zealand and Australia.
Mason Melia
Mason Melia has enjoyed a positive couple of months. First the 18-year-old got back from the back problem and chest infection that delayed his start to life at Spurs after arriving in January. He then made his first two Republic of Ireland senior appearances after the season ended.
The teenage former St Pat's striker's next steps could be tied into what happens with Lankshear. It would seem unlikely that De Zerbi would take both on the tour along with Richarlison, Dominic Solanke and Mathys Tel and if one heads off on loan or is sold in Lankshear's case then the other could be kept at the club this season as a homegrown option to learn from the older stars.
Jamie Donley
Jamie Donley had a tougher season this time around after his previous eye-catching exploits at Leyton Orient as he found minutes hard to come by at Stoke in the Championship and then picked up a freak injury on his Oxford debut before playing a part in the run-in for them.
The 21-year-old Northern Ireland international has plenty of talent in that left foot though and often plays a big part in Spurs pre-season thanks to his versatility, engine and ability on the ball. Donley has been involved with the first team in recent days even if another loan move beckons but he could impress De Zerbi, as a fellow number 10, if he hits the ground running in pre-season.
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Yang-min Hyeok
Yang Min-hyeok has only been at Spurs for 18 months but has already been out on three different loans in the Championship.
The 20-year-old is probably further off playing for Tottenham then he was when he arrived. As Spurs tried to acclimatise him to the English game, his first season brought a loan move to QPR and then in the first half of this last campaign the South Korean headed off to Portsmouth where he made 16 appearances, scoring three goals with one assist.
Then came one of the worst loan moves Tottenham have ever handed one of their young players as the 20-year-old made the switch to high-flying Coventry. Yang was left out of the final 15 league games of the season for Frank Lampard's title winners. Although he now has a promotion to the Premier League on his CV, he got just 29 minutes of football in the Championship for them across three matches.
De Zerbi will take a look at the tricky winger but it seems likely that another loan move will come Yang's way, with four years left on his contract.
Ashley Phillips
Ashley Phillips has been the highest performing forgotten man of the Tottenham defence.
The 20-year-old centre-back impressed once again during his second season with Stoke and was among the nominees for the EFL Championship Young Player of the Season award. He played more minutes in the league than any other player aged 20 or under this season.
In all Phillips got 44 games under his belt for Stoke, earning plenty of plaudits, but it feels like with the queue of centre-backs ahead of him, as with Vuskovic he may never play a competitive game in a Spurs shirt despite only ever impressing.
With two years left on his contract, this summer could be the one when Phillips leaves the club permanently.
Kota Takai
Kota Takai has had a far less impressive time on loan which sums up his experience since making the switch from Japan.
The 21-year-old suffered a foot injury soon after arriving at Spurs last summer and when he returned to fitness months later, he was sent out on loan to Borussia Monchengladbach. Unfortunately the centre-back struggled for game time and then picked up a muscle strain which meant he ultimately made just three starts for the German side and played only four minutes of football from the end of February onwards.
The Japan international is likely to give De Zerbi a reasonably simple decision to make as the club need to get him out on loan again with regular minutes somewhere to help develop him.
Callum Olusesi
Callum Olusesi had a season to remember as he made his Premier League and Champions League debuts against Liverpool and Atletico Madrid respectively.
The 19-year-old did not look out of place either in either cameo display under caretaker boss Igor Tudor and will head into pre-season full of confidence.
The midfielder, who made his senior debut in the Europa League under Ange Postecoglou in the previous campaign, was being chased by Italian side Torino at points during last season and with the number of players in his position in Spurs' first team a move this summer looks likely.
Luca Williams-Barnett and Jun'ai Byfield
We're grouping these two together because at 17-years-old, it's too early for either to head out on a standard loan. However, they will both be looking to impress De Zerbi during pre-season for a good reason.
That's because if the group of young players aged between 18 and 21 depart this summer on loan or permanently then Luca Williams-Barnett and Jun'ai Byfield could become the go-to homegrown players when De Zerbi looks to the academy for cover or minutes in the Carabao Cup or FA Cup.
Both players enjoyed positive senior debuts last season before each succumbing to injury in the tail end of the season. Williams-Barnett has been spotted already in first team pre-season footage.