Spurs 'call up' academy product as £60m man ruled out of Newcastle United clash

Tottenham Hotspur academy star Max Robson has been training with Ange Postecoglou’s senior stars ahead of Saturday’s visit to Newcastle United.

The 21-year-old has been a regular feature in Spurs youth setup in recent years and has taken part in several sessions under Postecoglou and his predecessor, Antonio Conte. However, Robson is yet to have a senior debut for the North London club and it seems unclear whether he could follow the likes of Oliver Skipp in being handed a Premier League bow after progressing through the Spurs academy.

Skipp remains one of the few academy graduates to feature in Postecoglou’s squad - although the former England Under-21 midfielder has not made an appearance in the Premier League since he came off the bench in the closing stages of a 2-2 draw at Everton in the first week of February. The former Celtic manager spoke of the situation surrounding Skipp’s future and the lack of academy products within his ranks ahead of the visit to Tyneside and admitted some big decisions lie in wait.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the Spurs boss said: “No, again we're quite comfortable in that situation as well. Decisions about individual players will all be made in the context of what's good for the club and what's good for the player and hopefully there's some sort of alignment there. Sometimes there isn't. From our perspective we're comfortable that with the squad we have we'll make decisions that are going to be beneficial for us in terms of our growth. A lot of those individual things about individual players won't be made until post-season.”

One player that will miss the trip to Tyneside is Brazilian forward Richarlison. The former Watford and Everton star scored twice in December’s meeting of the two sides - but he will be absent on Saturday lunchtime according to Postecoglou.

He said: “Yeah, he'll miss this week. He is close but with the weekend off next week, we feel and with the last two rounds stacked with games for us, we feel having him ready for that is more important, but he's progressing quite well.”