'I joined Tottenham at 8-years-old - and played with unbelievable midfielder still at the club'

Tom Carroll has named Ryan Mason as the Tottenham player he most enjoyed watching at the club as a youngster and believes the now first team coach and Ange Postecoglou are taking the club in the right direction together.

Carroll, 31, is back in the game at League One side Exeter City after a year out fully recovering from injury and spending time with his young family while training back at Spurs with the club's under-21s in order to keep fit. It was the club he came through as a youngster and ending up progressing through the academy to play 56 times for, scoring three goals and registering five assists.

When looking back at his time at Tottenham as a player under Harry Redknapp, Andre Villas-Boas and Mauricio Pochettino you might think that he would pick out team-mates such as Gareth Bale, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min or Mousa Dembele as the most talented he had played with, but for Carroll it was another academy product who he was a year behind in the youth set-up.

«It was amazing for me to come through the youth system at Tottenham, going to the u23’s and into the first team, and it was great to have done it with some top players,» the midfielder told football.london via Sky Bet. «I played in the academy and through to the first team with the likes of Harry Kane, Andros Townsend, Steven Caulker and Ryan Mason, all of which who went on to play in the Premier League and play for their countries.

»For me, the one player I loved watching when I was growing up was Ryan Mason. He was unbelievable in midfield and someone who I enjoyed watching and playing with."

On his own time at Spurs, he added: «It was great being at Tottenham. I joined the club when I was eight years old and left when I was 24, so I made some amazing