17-year-old Marcus Edward’s potential has been praised by his boss Pochettino claiming that the starlet does not get enough credit because he is English. The Spurs Boss surely thinks he has a lot of potential which goes unnoticed and even compared the youngster to Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi ahead of his first team debut in Athe EFL match against Gillingham last week.
In the pre-match conference ahead of his side’s cup clash with Liverpool, the Argentine was all praises for the starlet and, in quotes published by the Daily Mail stated that if Edwards was playing in another league like in South AAmerica his potential surely wouldn’t have gone unnoticed.
He said: ” It is cultural. Maybe if Marcus Edwards was born in Brazil or Argentina today he would be one of the most interesting prospects in football in the world. Maybe all the big teams would be fighting to buy him.
“But he is at Tottenham, he is in England and at 17, he is still a kid. We cannot appreciate he is a man, nearly a man, and he deserves to play.”
Edwards made his debut for the senior team for Spurs in the 5-0 annihilation of Gillingham in the EFL clash last month at White Hart Lane on September 21 and was praised for parts of his display by Spurs fans who saw his performance. During the stoppage time, Edwards made a brilliant run carving through the Gillingham defence and attempted a shot on goal which was parried off by the keeper but was a sign nonetheless that he is a promising talent that needs to be kept an eye on.
Pochettino insisted that upcoming youngsters such a Edwards deserved a chance at trying to make it as a Premier League standard player- before trying out at clubs who often go for buying talents instead of nurturing it in their own academies.
He added: ” That is the cultural difference. The Premier League is one of the stronger financial leagues, and Tottenham- like Liverpool and all clubs- prefer to buy experience and quality, bring a player who is 24,23 and 26 that performs quickly, rather than give time to the younger players and wait to build a prospect like Marcus Edwards.”
