good morning everyone – Isn’t it good to have football back?
One of the questions I’ve been asking myself today is, “How did I not know Marcus Edwards plays for Burnley?”, which is quickly followed by, “Have I been living under a rock?”
These are the kinds of questions you ask yourself when you watch the EFL Championship. The Clarets were relegated last year to the second tier, where their season has not gotten off to a good start. They lost 1-3 to West Brom in the second match. Usually you’d expect
Burnley to make another automatics charge, but this feels different.
What I noticed watching the WBA-Burnley match on Sunday was one Marcus Edwards. The former Tottenham Hotspur starlet is in his first full season with the club after being loaned there in February by Sporting CP.
He’s had a very odd career. Mauricio Pochettino compared him to Lionel Messi (that didn’t pan out).
He moved to the Portuguese League in 2019, first with Vitoria de Guimaraes and later Sporting. He did well at both clubs, scoring 17 and 15 goals during his spells, respectively.
There was even some rumour-mill chatter back in the day about a potential Edwards return to Spurs, which he punctuated when he scored against his former club during a 2022 Champions League fixture at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
And while he hasn’t returned to Tottenham, he played some role in shaping the current squad. As part of the deal to bring Porro to Spurs, Sporting received an additional 15% of Edwards’ rights from the club – which meant at the time the Portuguese club receive 65% of any sale for Edwards.
Now, his journey brings him back to England. Not in the Premier League like many had thought, but the Championship. There’s no shame in that, lots of players move down there (and it’s a heck of a lot more competitive than a lot of other leagues out there).
Still, it was a surprise to see him kitted up for Burnley.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Waltz for Debby, by Bill Evans
And now for your links:
Alasdair Gold: “Tottenham plan perfect transfer tonic as Luca Williams-Barnett suffers unfortunate moment”
The Athletic ($$): “Analysing what went wrong for Spurs at Brentford: Is it time for panic or patience?”
Matt Law: “Same old Spurs given reality check of epic proportions”
The Independent: “Roberto De Zerbi says Tottenham ‘not a team’ and names three struggling players”
BBC: “Pre-season optimism quickly fades for some fans”
