'I was dubbed the English Lionel Messi – now I could come back to haunt Tottenham' Marcus Edwards was once compared to Lionel Messi and made a low-key return to English football during the January transfer window.
Ahead of handing a teenage Edwards his Spurs debut in 2016, manager Mauricio Pochettino said, "The qualities - it's only looks, his body and the way that he plays - remember a little bit from the beginning of Messi.” The then-17-year-old was given a 15-minute cameo against Gillingham the next day but never fulfilled his promise in north London.
There were reports earlier in the transfer window that his move to Burnley would include an option to buy and Edwards would surely be keen to finally prove himself on home soil.
When asked about possibly returning to England earlier that campaign, Edwards told BT Sport, "It's home, so of course I want to come back there [to the Premier League] one day.
Pochettino believed that Edwards had “enough talent to be a top player, a great player” and wasn’t the only person connected to Spurs who likened the ex-England U20 international to Messi.
