• Football
  • Boxing
  • UFC
  • Home
  • Football
    • England
    • Transfer News
    • Premier League
    • Champions League
    • Lionel Messi
    • Cristiano Ronaldo
    • EA FC 25
    • Wrexham
  • Boxing
    • Tyson Fury
    • Anthony Joshua
    • Oleksandr Usyk
    • Mike Tyson
    • Jake Paul
    • Logan Paul
  • UFC
    • Dana White
    • Conor McGregor
    • Khabib Nurmagomedov
    • Jon Jones
    • Paddy Pimblett
    • Joe Rogan
  • Other Sport
    • Athletics
    • Formula 1
    • MMA
    • Motorsport
    • NBA
    • Darts
    • NFL
    • Snooker
    • Wrestling
    • Tennis
    • Cricket
    • Golf
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
Meet the former Spurs winger who has become one of Sporting's best players, his highlights are insane

Home> Football

Published 14:30 13 Sep 2022 GMT+1

Meet the former Spurs winger who has become one of Sporting's best players, his highlights are insane

Mauricio Pochettino even dubbed him 'the next Lionel Messi'.

Daniel Marland

Daniel Marland

Tottenham Hotspur are set to cross paths with a familiar face when they face Sporting CP in the Champions League on Tuesday - academy graduate Marcus Edwards.

Spurs got off to the best possible start in Group D last week, running out 2-0 winners over Marseille. They'll be coming up against an in-form Sporting side who demolished Europa League holders Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 six days ago.

Advert

In that game, Edwards opened the scoring just past the hour mark, registered an assist and was named Player of the Match on his first Champions League start.

The 23-year-old has had an interesting career and looks to finally be putting it altogether this season.

Edwards has three goals and three assists in seven games in all competitions, with his striker against Frankfurt making him one of only five English players to score for a non-British club since 2019. It's also an average of a goal involvement every 67 minutes.

Advert

Comfortable on either foot, the England youth international can play on either wing or through the middle if required.

Such a promising prospect, former Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino compared him to Lionel Messi after Edwards signed his first professional contract in 2016.

"The qualities – it’s only looks, his body and the way that he plays – remember a little bit from the beginning of Messi," Pochettino declared on the eve of Edwards' first-team debut.

It's the kind of comment that is intended to help a young player thrive. It did the opposite and put a huge amount of expectation on Edwards' shoulders.

Advert

Edwards in a pre-season friendly against Juventus in 2016. (Image
Alamy)

"I think that was said to help me in a way," Edwards told the Daily Mail.

"Just to put me out there and give me some recognition as he thought I was a good player.

"I think it got blown out of proportion a little bit but there were good intentions behind it.

Advert

"He brought me into the first team and believed in me so I appreciate it. I don't think about it so it doesn't really affect me."

After leaving Spurs in 2019, Edwards decided to move abroad and signed a contract with Portuguese outfit Vitoria de Guimaraes.

Edwards evades a Moreirense player. (Image
Alamy)

Moving abroad is something modern British players are comfortable with after the success of Gareth Bale's transfer to Real Madrid nine years ago, and Edwards benefitted massively.

Advert

A run of games for Vitoria saw him score his first goal against Arsenal in the Europa League and he made the switch to Sporting in January.

Could Edwards bring it full circle at the Estadio Jose Alvalade against his former employers? Stranger things have happened.

Featured Image Credit: JM Productions HD/YouTube

Topics: Tottenham Hotspur, Sporting CP, Champions League

Daniel Marland
Daniel Marland

Daniel is a social editor for SPORTbible after moving from the writing team. Nearly scored past Stormzy at Old Trafford once.

X

@DanMarland_

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

7 hours ago
8 hours ago
9 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • 7 hours ago

    Top flight club kicked out of Conference League in warning to Crystal Palace

    An appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport was rejected on Monday.

    Football
  • 8 hours ago

    Chelsea fans have already made their minds up on Liam Delap after making debut during Club World Cup

    Delap made his debut for Chelsea in their Club World Cup clash against LAFC.

    Football
  • 9 hours ago

    Man Utd drop potential transfer hint as player nobody expected to feature again reappears on club shop while two stars absent

    United's printing list has been updated.

    Football
  • 10 hours ago

    Wrexham announce first signing of the summer ahead of Championship campaign and it's a statement of intent

    He memorably scored the winner against Liverpool in last season's FA Cup.

    Football
  • Spurs rejected by one of their top targets to replace Ange Postecoglou in nightmare scenario for the club
  • Ange Postecoglou tipped for shock move to Spurs' Premier League rivals after being sacked by Europa League winners
  • Son Heung-min's astronomical Saudi Pro League contract offer revealed with player 'set to leave Spurs'
  • Tottenham qualify for little-known UEFA tournament only one team has ever won after Europa League final win