Marcus Edwards’ time at Tottenham Hotspur became defined by one fateful quote from Mauricio Pochettino.

The Argentine manager lived to regret a comparison which was misinterpreted and sensationalised to the point where it was effectively undermined, per Sky Sports.

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

Just as Zlatan Ibrahimovic suggests “lions do not compare themselves with humans”, extraterrestrials should not be compared with mere mortals.

Edwards unfortunately fell victim to Pochettino’s words and eventually joined Portuguese outfit Vitoria Guimaraes in September 2019.

And with Premier League football on hold until April 30th at the very earliest, it’s an appropriate time to check in on Edwards and assess how his career has developed since he left north London.

Time at Spurs

The 2016 comparison with Messi was far from conducive to a thriving career with the Lilywhites.

A 15 minute cameo against Gillingham in the third round of the EFL Cup is all he has to show for his time as a senior player at the club, while his loan spell with Norwich City in 2018 ended prematurely.

Signs of promise began to manifest during his final loan spell with Dutch outfit Excelsior Rotterdam, with the youngster scoring two and assisting four in 25 league appearances for the club.

It was a half decent return for what was effectively his first full season as a senior professional, but it wasn’t enough to convince Pochettino of his Premier League credentials and he moved to Vitoria shortly after he returned from the Eredivisie.

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Where is Edwards now?

Edwards has enjoyed arguably his finest season to date since moving to Portugal.

In Liga Nos he has scored four goals and provided four assists from just 14 starts, while his Europa League form has also caught the eye.

The 21-year-old rather poetically scored in a 3-2 defeat away at Arsenal back in October 2019, lending Spurs fans plenty of reason to laud their former player.

While he may never emulate anything close to the standard Messi has set in world football, that he has recorded more dribbles per game (2.9) than any other player in Portugal’s top flight adds a layer of legitimacy to Pochettino’s hefty and rather infamous comparison.

Overall, meanwhile, the 5 ft 9 wing-wizard is currently the ninth highest rated player for the 2019/20 Liga Nos season, per Whoscored, with an overall rating of 7.29.

Given his age and lack of experience at the top level, this may merely represent the beginning of a fruitful career in the game.

The wonderkid Spurs thought they were grooming for the first team appears to have found his calling.