English ‘Mini Messi’ set for big Sporting CP move

Robin Bairner

25 Jun 2021 08:28 BST
5 min read

© ProShots - Former Tottenham starlet Marcus Edwards playing for Vitoria against Sporting CP

Marcus Edwards is set to complete a huge move to Sporting CP, just two years after he left Tottenham for Portuguese side Vitoria Guimaraes.

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With Sporting poised to sell winger Jovane Cabral to Watford or West Ham, clubs that are willing to pay in the region of €19 million for the Cape Verde winger, they have earmarked the 22-year-old as a potential replacement.

Edwards has enjoyed two fine years with Vitoria, scoring 10 goals over the course of two league seasons with the club and chipping in a further six assists.

Record believes that the Englishman has, therefore, become Sporting’s top target to replace their current forward, who has 11 goals in 36 league outings.

What happened to Marcus Edwards?

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Marcus Edwards was regarded as one of the big hopes of English football while he was with Tottenham, having joined the academy system as an eight-year-old.

He would turn professional in 2016, and while he trained with the first team was only able to make a single appearance for the top team.

Nevertheless, his billing was an impressive one.

His qualities … it’s only looks – his body and the way that he plays – remember a little bit from the beginning of Messi.

- Mauricio Pochettino

“His qualities … it’s only looks – his body and the way that he plays – remember a little bit from the beginning of Messi,” then Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino explained.

Edwards, meanwhile, earned the nickname ‘Mini Messi’ around the club and signed on until 2020.

Loan spells at Norwich and Dutch side Excelsior followed and in September 2019 he moved to Portugal with Vitoria on a permanent basis in a bid to find first-team football.

Vitoria agreed a deal that he arrived for free but 50% of any future sale would go to Spurs.

Edwards has since proven himself sufficiently at Vitoria that he was handed a new three-year contract in January, although his form is set to give him a move back to a big club and provide Tottenham with a healthy windfall.