Marcus must grasp Canaries relaunch

NORWICH hope Marcus Edwards can fill the gap left by Alex Pritchard. Spurs simply hope he is not the next Ravel Morrison.

For the sake of English football, we must all hope Tottenham’s fears are not realised – and that a five-month loan spell at Carrow Road can belatedly detonate an explosion of talent.

Few outside White Hart Lane have ever heard of the 19-yearold, who joined Spurs at eight and spent the subsequent decade demolishing all age groups.

Laser-guided set-pieces. Mesmeric dribbles. Speed, technique, more tricks and flicks than your average Nike advert. Edwards’ raw ability cannot be overstated.

Not that Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino didn’t try. “The qualities – his looks, his body, the way he plays – remind me a little bit of the beginning of Messi,” said the Argentine in 2016. “Maybe if Marcus were born in Brazil or Argentina, he would be one of the most interesting prospects in the world.”

In fact, he was. At one stage, the young forward was scouted by Barcelona, PSG and Bayern Munich. In August, Dutch giants Ajax prepared a bid, only to be informed by the player’s agent that a first-team breakthrough was imminent.

Yet the fact he is now at Norwich – at an age when Dele Alli was playing for England – tells you Edwards’ ascent to stardom has veered into the wilderness.

His sole first-team appearance remains a 20-minute cameo against Gillingham in September 2016. Peers like Kazaiah Sterling and Kyle Walker-Peters, once regarded as the George and Ringo to Edwards’ John Lennon, have stolen the limelight.

Injuries haven’t helped. Nor has Edwards’ frame. Though official statistics claim he is 12 stone and 5ft 9ins, both measurements are, well… optimistic.

Standard

Edwards has spent the last year pumping iron, but the feeling persists he is too easily knocked over, too often bullied out of games.

So far, so standard. Players develop at different rates. Harry Kane, after all, was 21 when he made his first Pre- mier League start. Then, in November, Pochettino released Brave New World, a plodding diary of the 2016-17 season, but one passage about Edwards proved revelatory.

“Marcus is still in the process of adapting to the rigours of being a professional, which requires you to act and think differently, to be disciplined and make sacrifices,” he said.

“He has authority and behavioural problems, and we have to look at the bigger picture to find out the root cause. There was a time when it would have been seen as impossible for him to play professionally, let alone make it in the Premier League.” And Pochettino didn’t stop there. “It’s our responsibility to make sure he behaves himself when he trains with the first team,” he added. “He has no shortage of talent, but there are gaps to be filled. He has to learn to score ugly, run more and be committed.”

Who could read that and not think of Morrison? Once, the troubled Man United starlet overshadowed Jesse Lingard and was idolised by Paul Pogba. Now, he scratches a living at Mexican side Atlas – a poster boy for wasted talent.

Much like Nile Ranger, the 26year-old never escaped the gangs he grew up with. Childhood bonds proved stronger than the strictures of professionalism, diluting the drive that propelled Pogba to stardom.

There is no evidence that Edwards is similarly afflicted, yet Pochettino must have expected his veiled attack to prompt assumptions. So, too, his choice of Norwich – among the suitors – as a loan destination. Paris or Amsterdam it ain’t.

Mislaid

Indeed, for a man usually so deft in the field of youth development, Pochettino appears to have mislaid the kid gloves on this one. By his own admission, the Messi comparison was a blunder, one which was subsequently compounded by that very public dressing down. Both instances have served to intensify scrutiny and pressure on a complex personality who clearly needs neither – and given what should have been a humdrum loan spell the appearance of a last-chance saloon, at least as far as Spurs are concerned. Asked how he felt about playing, Edwards once said: “I laugh inside, when I see the ball coming towards me. It makes me very excited.” That’s the player we all want to see. Joyful, expressive, flowing over the grass like silk in a breeze. Not a kid with it all to prove. So while Edwards must now step up and deliver, he must also be allowed to grow, adapt and mature. Grant that and Norwich may just see the flowering of a oncein-a-generation talent.