LONDON -- Mauricio Pochettino says it is Tottenham Hotspur's "dream" to follow the example of Barcelona by building a team of academy graduates.
Spurs had the youngest squad in the Premier League last season, including homegrown stars Harry Kane, who finished as the Golden Boot winner with 25 goals, Danny Rose, Ryan Mason and Tom Carroll.
Barcelona's La Masia academy is revered for its production line of talent, which has included Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez in recent history.
Pochettino, who has a house in Barcelona and lived in the city for many years as a player and manager with Espanyol, has previously admitted that Spurs cannot compete with their wealthier Premier League rivals in the transfer market but he hopes they can emulate Barca's success at developing youth.
"It's very important for us to continue, only we need time," Pochettino told a news conference. "There are a lot of examples and the best one, we are all agreed, was Barcelona. They have a lot of good players from the academy, who are among the best players in the world. It is a good example for us.
"Maybe it is very different, as we have a different philosophy in the way that we work, and we create our own philosophy -- that is very important. But we continue to believe in our young talent.
"As we bring young talent from the academy, we keep our identity. Tottenham is different to another club and it is for that we need to continue to bring players from the academy."
In the absence of their Euro 2016 players, Pochettino included 14 academy graduates in last month's preseason trip to Melbourne, where Spurs lost to Juventus and Atletico Madrid in the International Champions Cup.
Josh Onomah, Harry Winks and Cameron Carter-Vickers regularly make Spurs match-day squad in the Premier League and Pochettino sees no reason that several young players cannot be part of the first-team in the future.
Pochettino said: "Now we have good examples like Cameron [Carter-Vickers], Harry Winks, Marcus Edwards, Josh Onomah, Luke Amos, William Miller, Kazaiah Sterling... Why not believe that one day they are all in the first team and maybe we will get big success with them?
"This is our dream. Always we need some experienced players that can help the young ones. That is important always. We have great potential in the academy. The club have unbelievable facilities and maybe in two years [will] be in the new stadium. All we have ahead is great and we are all excited for the future here."