The UEFA nightmare Tottenham are desperately trying to avoid as Spurs set for wonderkid transfer

Tottenham are set to sign another young striker to their academy and their stockpiling in that area could help get around UEFA's rules.

Spurs are set to add Leeds United youngster Oliver Boast to their youth set-up this summer with a transfer that will reportedly cost the north London club a seven-figure sum. The striker, who only turned 16 last month, netted nine goals in the final eight U18 games of Leeds' season and will now make the switch to Hotspur Way.

The England U16 international's arrival comes at time when Spurs have options galore up front in Stuart Lewis' U18 team with 17-year-old George Feeney signed last summer from Glentoran, where he had been playing first team football. The teenager played mostly in midfield for Tottenham's U18s last season but still managed 10 goal involvements in 21 league matches.

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Spurs also have a gem of their own in Luca Williams-Barnett, who plundered an incredible 20 goals and 12 assists in the U18 Premier League and FA Youth Cup alone, not even counting the hat-trick he scored as Spurs won the U17 Premier League Cup final against Charlton.

The 16-year-old can play in an attacking midfield role or up front and was named on the first team bench once in the Premier League and three times in the Europa League last season.

There is more attacking talent coming through the door in January next year with Mason Melia on his way. Spurs agreed a deal with St Patrick's Athletic for the 17-year-old worth an initial £1.6million - a record transfer for the League of Ireland - but with the potential to rise further with add-ons that could double that figure.

Melia has been one of the most sought-after Irish youngsters of recent times and Tottenham saw off competition from clubs across the Premier League and Europe to land his signature. Due to the UK's exit from the European Union, Melia's move cannot go through until after he is 18, which happens in September, so his transfer will officially happen in the January window next year.

Melia has remarkable experience already for someone so young and his big frame means he made his debut for St Pats at just 15 and has now played in 76 senior games for the club, scoring 16 goals and laying on five assists. He also has European experience, having played up front for the team during their Conference League qualifying run in July and August last year as a 16-year-old.

It is Europe that is another factor in Tottenham's attempt to stockpile talent aged 18 or under within their squad for the Premier League side currently has major problems with a lack of club-trained players which will affect Thomas Frank's Champions League squad this coming season.

They will currently only be able to name a 22-man squad in Europe rather than a 25-man one as they cannot fill the four club-trained spots with senior homegrown players, with only goalkeeper Brandon Austin an option. That means they must leave three of those places empty.

However, they are trying to fill that void with first team youngsters like Archie Gray andLucas Bergvall as well as a flood of talented teenagers into the academy.

UEFA's rules state that club-trained players are those on a club's books for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21.

There is also a B-List for players born on, or after, January 1, 2004 and who have been eligible to play for the club for any uninterrupted period of two years since their 15th birthday – or for a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year. Players aged 16 may be submitted if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years without interruption.

So Tottenham are trying to redress a mess made in their squad by selling too many homegrown players and not replacing them with those coming through. The youngsters in the academy and the new arrivals will be hoping to make a name for themselves in the years ahead.

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