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Tottenham have long been linked with a move for their former academy product and this summer brings the most logical window to make a move
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Tottenham are monitoring the situation with Marcus Edwards this summer as they attempt to keep on top of their homegrown issues, football.london understands.
The 25-year-old left Spurs five years ago after being unable to match the undoubted potential that led then manager Mauricio Pochettino to say that he had traits that reminded him of Lionel Messi. After playing just 15 minutes for Tottenham in a League Cup tie against Gillingham, Edwards moved to the Portuguese league where after impressing for Vitoria he was snapped up by Sporting CP.
In Lisbon, Ruben Amorim helped develop the winger into one of the key attacking players in his exciting young squad. In his first full season at Sporting, Edwards provided 26 goal involvements in 51 matches, with 12 goals and 14 assists, including two goals and two assists in the Champions League. One of those goals came at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a 1-1 draw with his old side.
This season has brought six goals and nine assists in 44 matches as Sporting won the Primeira Liga title. Edwards suffered an illness around the turn of the year and then returned to find Francisco Trincao in a good run of form in his usual right wing slot in the second half of the season. That meant most of Edwards' appearances from January onwards came from the bench.
In one dramatic late cameo against Porto in April, he came on as a substitute in the 86th minute, grabbed an assist two minutes later to help Sporting come back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 but then was sent off in the 90th minute for going head to head with Porto's Brazilian winger Galeno.
Edwards has made no secret of his desire to return to England at some point and football.london understands that he would be happy to return to his old club. Spurs are believed to be among a number of Premier League clubs considering him as an option, with Crystal Palace another side reported in Portugal to have an interest.
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There has been no concrete approach yet from Tottenham, but they are believed to be considering him as one of a number of further options for the winger roles in Ange Postecoglou's systems, after having extended Timo Werner's loan deal for another season.
Spurs do have a financial advantage when it comes to Edwards. When the north London club sold him to Vitoria, it was with a 50% sell-on clause and they decided to transfer that rather than cash in when he made the move to Sporting. Then when Spurs signed Pedro Porro on a permanent deal last summer, part of the negotiations with the Lisbon club included dropping the sell-on clause for Edwards down to 35%.
Sporting, with Amorim remaining at the helm, are not desperate to sell Edwards but with two years left on his contract are understood to value him at £15million (17.6million euros) before further add-ons that would lift that price tag slightly. With Spurs' 35% sell-on cut that would take the initial base figure to around £9.75million.
Another reason for any potential return of Edwards would be Tottenham's homegrown situation, particularly their lack of "club-trained" players for their upcoming Europa League squad. In European football, as a minimum, eight of a club's 25 squad places must be reserved exclusively for 'locally trained players' with four of them association-trained and four club-trained. Club-trained players are those who were on a club's books for three entire seasons or 36 months between the ages of 15 and 21.
With Harry Kane and Harry Winks' exits last summer, Tottenham's current senior club-trained players now only consist of Brandon Austin, Alfie Whiteman, Oliver Skipp, Troy Parrott and Japhet Tanganga. Austin has just signed a new contract but there are doubts over the future of the rest of that group with Tanganga and Parrott expected to be sold this summer, Skipp potentially loaned out and Whiteman's next steps are unclear after Austin's long new deal.
One answer to the lack of senior club trained players could be for the club to promote some of their young academy starlets into those spots, but that would be a waste of places because those young players are already registered on the additional B list for academy youngsters.
That is why Edwards could end being a useful option, although much could depend on what happens next with some of those club-trained players and also the more expensive, high profile wingers Tottenham will have their eye on this summer, with Athletic Bilbao's Nico Williams, RB Leipzig's Dani Olmo, Crystal Palace duo Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze, the latter able to play centrally and out wide, and Barcelona's Raphinha all among those linked to the north London outfit.
Edwards could be a cost-effective additional option on top of a high profile arrival who ticks a few boxes with a number of wingers set to leave Spurs this summer. As the window progresses and with other clubs interested in the player, Spurs will have to decide whether to bring him home or take the 35%.
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