Tottenham: Pochettino Risks Inflating Marcus Edwards’ Ego

Fresh commentary from Mauricio Pochettino about Tottenham prospect Marcus Edwards could be too much, too soon.

By all accounts, Edwards’ is set to be a star. At 17-years-old he’s already signed a contract with Tottenham that will keep him at the club until 2018. He’s started four matches for Tottenham’s under-21s this season and subbed in for another, scoring three goals and setting up two assists.

Since well before the season even began in August, Edwards’ has been positioned to play a part in Tottenham’s first team efforts at some point this season. While it doesn’t seem that Edwards’ is set to enjoy a Dele Alli-like ascendancy this season, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see him feature in cup games or as a substitute.

Indeed, were it he not currently suffered from an injury, Edwards would be one of the favorites to feature in Pochettino’s starting XI for the team’s visit to Liverpool on Tuesday for round four of the EFL Cup.

All of which could accurately be interpreted as Pochettino and the club as a whole having high, igh hopes for the young English winger. Pochettino’s even gone so far as to compare Edwards to Lionel Messi, and on Monday he took that analogy a step further.

“Maybe if Marcus Edwards were born in Brazil or Argentina, today he would be one of the most interesting prospects in football in the world,” Pochettino was quoted by the Mirror as saying of his star pupil. “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.”

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These comments are, broadly, fine. Pochettino’s not wrong that England’s prospects tend to be significantly less regarded than the likes of, say, Ángel Correa of Argentina and Gabriel Jesus of Brazil. Those are players that come from countries with a long history of producing some of the best talent in the world, particularly in the last ten or so years.

With a few notable exceptions — see: Alli — England hasn’t earned a similar reputation. And so it is that potential stars like Edwards or Marcus Rashford tend not to be attracting bids in the tens of millions, at least not yet.

Effusive praise for a young, talented but relatively unproven player can be detrimental however. How many more Argentine and Brazilian players enjoy such kind words at 17 but can never make it in Europe’s big leagues? Plenty, and it only gets worse from players from countries with less of a pedigree.

More importantly for Tottenham, Pochettino’s comments run against the meritocracy he’s created at the club.

There are no sacred cows in Tottenham’s first team. Pochettino’s dropped Christian Eriksen out of the lineup, he’s pulled Harry Kane off the pitch and he’s shifted focus from Eric Dier to Victor Wanyama in the defensive midfield role. No player enjoys absolute security in his position, and no start is freely given.

By inflating Edwards’ ego now Pochettino is creating a situation where the young player grows into the starting XI understanding that he’s undroppable. Perhaps Edwards reaches the level of a Messi or a younger Wayne Rooney, who both became the central foci for Barcelona and Manchester United respectively.

A much more likely scenario, and a much better scenario for Tottenham as whole, is that Edwards’ learns the value of being a team player and becomes great along with the rest of the club. Both Kane and Alli — the best examples at Tottenham of precocious talent growing into first team regulars — know that nothing about their place in the team is safe. They need to keep working and improving if they are to stay where they are, just like the rest of the team.

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And they know it. Which is why you see both players publically come out and admit they could still improve. There’s a humility to them that, in the long run, will make them much better players.

Edwards would benefit from the same patient and sensible regard. It’s a lot to expect any young man to reconcile today’s flattery with what could be a humbling start to his career.