Marcus Edwards’ loan at Norwich City has come to an end and he has returned to his parent club Tottenham, with Daniel Farke citing “personal reasons.”
This is a curious situation for a player that arrived with a bit of a fanfare but has struggled in Norfolk, managing only six minutes of game time in Canary yellow at the end of the 0-2 loss to Fulham on Good Friday.
So what went wrong with the lad that Mauricio Pochettino famously once said reminded him of a young Lionel Messi? By the way, Pochettino later said that he regretted saying that but the sound bite has been overused ever since.
Edwards joined City in January on a loan until the end of the season and came to Norfolk carrying a slight back strain but he just didn`t appear on the pitch or even the bench. While Hernandez, Leitner and Srbeny have all had lots of game time since their arrivals at the turn of the year, Edwards was nowhere to be seen, even when fit again.
Daniel Farke spoke about him at the end of January, having declined to elaborate on the “personal reasons” after last night`s draw with Sunderland.
Farke said of Edwards that without the ball he needed to “grow up a bit” and he also commented on him needing to be “more grown up in his attitude on the pitch” adding that his squad couldn`t carry him.
Pochettino has previously spoken about Edwards having “authority and behavioural problems,” most recently in his ghost written book “A Brave New World.”
It seems to me that the lad`s natural ability and talent are not in question. He showed excellent composure and touch in that tantalising six-minute cameo against Fulham but it seems that something is not right elsewhere within his make up.
Norwich City and Daniel Farke have a track record this season of playing young players and trusting them, that`s probably why Spurs chose Carrow Road as his loan destination.
Angus Gunn was 21 years old and had no first team experience of any kind before joining Norwich on loan last summer and Farke has built his team around a 20 year old James Maddison from the season`s start, and that has paid off in epic style.
Those Tottenham fans moaning about all this on Twitter this morning need to understand that he will have been given every opportunity to take the opportunity offered him. The phrase “You can take a horse to water but you can`t make him drink” seems apt.
If Edwards was a Norwich player, I would be concerned about the fact that at age 19, he only has 21 minutes of first team football to his name and that neither Farke or the fabled Pochettino, so revered in world football at the moment for his coaching and methods, trusted him enough to play in their teams.
Lionel Messi had 70 appearances under his belt at Barcelona when he turned 20, so what exactly is the problem with Marcus Edwards?
Natural ability is essential for a footballer but will only get you so far. If you haven`t got the work ethic to go with it, then it`ll be a very short career.
Hopefully, in time, he will get his act together and have that successful career but he isn`t using his time wisely at the moment and if he isn`t careful, could find himself on the football scrap heap. Only he can decide which way he wants to go.
OTBC