Tim Sherwood: Tottenham are reaping rewards of my legacy

Tim Sherwood's last match as Tottenham manager was a 3-0 win over Aston Villa in May 2014

Tottenham are benefitting from the legacy of young talent he left at White Hart Lane, says new Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood.

Sherwood, 46, was Spurs manager for 28 matches last season after joining the club's coaching staff in 2008.

And he feels boss Mauricio Pochettino is reaping the rewards of the work he did with young players like Harry Kane.

Sherwood said: "He's inherited a good bunch of young players who were developed by myself."

Kane, 21, is being tipped for a full England call-up by national team coach Roy Hodgson for next month's fixtures against Lithuania and Italy after scoring 23 times this season.

But Sherwood feels Kane's progress would not have been so impressive if he had followed the club's wishes to loan the striker out again last January following earlier temporary spells with Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester.

Harry Kane has scored five goals in his last three Premier League games

Sherwood, who gave Kane his first Premier League start for Tottenham in April 2014, added: "If I hadn't resisted the club wanting to loan him out last January, he wouldn't be Harry Kane now.

"He had to be very strong mentally, he's had to fight it. They haven't always sung 'He's one of our own'.

"I'd had Harry Kane since he was 11 or 12. It makes a lot of difference, I know them better than their parents as footballers."

Sherwood won 14 of his 28 games in charge of Tottenham but was sacked last May after Spurs finished sixth in the Premier League.

That is also their current position under Pochettino, who moved to White Hart Lane from Southampton last summer.

Sherwood believes the Argentine is doing a good job with the young talent he has inherited.

He said: "There are a lot of big stars and he could have discarded Ryan Mason and gone with Nabil Bentaleb. He's not done that - so fair play to him.

"I respect him for that. It's good for me. I left a bit of a legacy there with those young players and he's carried it on."

Sherwood will take charge of his first game as Villa manager when they host Stoke on Saturday. His new club are currently third from bottom of the Premier League.