Peak ages: Spurs can have no excuses about players not being ready or being too old
By Charlie Eccleshare and Mark Carey Nov 16, 2021 11
This piece is part of a series looking at the age profiles of squads for teams that we cover in the Premier League, Championship and Scottish Premiership, following The Athletic's article by Tom Worville considering "peak age" across different positions. Goalkeepers tend to peak later in their careers, and flying full-backs generally peak earlier — it's all in there.
The analysis was calculated based on the share of minutes per age across each position, over the past 10 Premier League seasons. Off the back of that work, each club writer is looking more closely at the current state of their playing squad to see how each player's age profile shapes up relative to their respective peak.
For a team that have felt like they've been in transition for too long, Tottenham's squad actually appears to be at a close to peak age.
Based on detailed research by The Athletic on when players peak, Spurs' squad hits the sweet spot almost exactly, being just 0.4 years younger than the ideal age.
As the graphic below demonstrates, only Leeds United are closer to that perfect number, and Spurs' 0.4 figure contrasts favourably with rivals for the European places like West Ham (1.9 years over) and Everton (1.