Marcus Edwards

[bombarda]

Wasn't there also concerns about who he was friends with?

I may be wrong with that but if he has his own place and he's still in contact with those people then they could be an issue.

You could be thinking of Troy Parrott. He was(?) friends with associates of the Kinahan cartel

 

[Now it's Spursonal]

Marcus Edwards ranks 78th in Primeira Liga in take-on success rate among all players with at least 2 take on attempts per game.

His success rate of 41%, is only marginally better than Werner's rate last season in the Premier League - 40% - and everyone complains that Werner can't take anyone on.

List of players who had a higher take-on success rate for Spurs last season:

Bryan Gil (73%)
Oliver Skipp
Cristian Romero
Manor Solomon
Yves Bissouma
Giovani Lo Celso
Ivan Perišić
Micky van de Ven
Rodrigo Bentancur
Pierre Højbjerg
Pape Matar Sarr
Alejo Véliz
Emerson
Pedro Porro
Son Heung-min
Dejan Kulusevski
Destiny Udogie


I am pretty sure we can find that level of success in the Academy.

Have to agree with @razor1981 here in that the successful take on % stat can be quite misleading when used on its own and without the eye test.

For example, Werner's % is massively inflated by him just knocking the ball past the outside of the player down the sideline where he'll usually then cross the ball in. This is obviously a valuable thing to be able to do, but it's nowhere near as valuable as Edwards style of dribbling.

When Edwards beats his man, he goes 'straight through them' which leads to him running into the box which is far more dangerous than what Werner is achieving.

This is reflected in the stats too with Edwards being 98th percentile when it comes to goals created from take-ons averaging 0.2 goals created per 90, whereas Werner averaged 0.08 per 90.

All that being said though, Edwards contributes the square root of fuck all when it comes to pressing and tackling so I very much doubt Ange would be a fan.

 

[mark87]

Edwards simply isn't good enough for us. Take into account his questionable attitude as well, it seems the only plus about this transfer will be his club trained status.

Id much rather we gave Santiago from the U21s a shot instead.

 

[spursfan77]

Werner and Edwards as our new attacking signings……that’s not going to get us anywhere, it’s barely standing still.

 

[djhotspur]

Werner and Edwards as our new attacking signings……that’s not going to get us anywhere, it’s barely standing still.

Edwards coming in only works if he’s replacing Gil.
If next season our options are;
Werner Son LW
New striker Richie S
New RW Johnson, edwards

then Kulu rotates across wherever is needed I think it’s good.

We basically replaced gil, solomun and perisic with Edwards and Werner

 

[kremlyn]

If memory serves, wasn't he a 10 all the way through our youth ranks? I'm pretty sure it was only on one of his loans that he began his career as a winger. Not surprising that he cuts inside if that's the case and his prime year's would have had the benefit of Porro overlapping him for Sporting.

That's not the profile of winger we're looking for but we are looking for a HG 10 so...

He's a very talented lad but it's a punt and not the elite winger we're expecting.

 

[spursfan77]

Edwards coming in only works if he’s replacing Gil.
If next season our options are;
Werner Son LW
New striker Richie S
New RW Johnson, edwards

then Kulu rotates across wherever is needed I think it’s good.

We basically replaced gil, solomun and perisic with Edwards and Werner

Yeah it only works if we bring those 3 players in but I'd be amazed if we did that on top of werner and Edwards.

I would like us to bring bigger players in too. It just helps having more physical players on the pitch when dealing with the opposition.

 

[mil1lion]

Edwards coming in only works if he’s replacing Gil.
If next season our options are;
Werner Son LW
New striker Richie S
New RW Johnson, edwards

then Kulu rotates across wherever is needed I think it’s good.

We basically replaced gil, solomun and perisic with Edwards and Werner

No chance we sign Edwards and another right winger though. Really to progress we don't want to compare to squad players who never play. We need to just think are they good enough for the first 11? If not, do they at least have the potential too? This needs to be our focus. We have too many we call good squad players.

 

[Albertbarich]

Werner and Edwards as our new attacking signings……that’s not going to get us anywhere, it’s barely standing still.

Hard to disagree with this but I think after last summer they deserve patience and the old let it play out line rings true. They have a plan so I'm happy to let it play out and see where we are.

 

[HildoSpur]

If it's between Edwards and KWP if we HAVE to bring one of them in (what a shocking state of affairs if this is the case by the way in terms of squad mis-management over the last 5 years) then it's KWP for me every time and I say that as somebody who thinks he is 'ok' but no more than that - he would be a decent back-up for our wing backs. Edwards just is nowhere near good enough and we badly need improvement in our front line.

 

[djhotspur]

No chance we sign Edwards and another right winger though. Really to progress we don't want to compare to squad players who never play. We need to just think are they good enough for the first 11? If not, do they at least have the potential too? This needs to be our focus. We have too many we call good squad players.

But the only reason we are signing him is he is club trained so I’m not sure that’s entirely true.

 

[mil1lion]

But the only reason we are signing him is he is club trained so I’m not sure that’s entirely true.

Still makes no sense to buy someone just because they're club trained. We have an academy for that and need to keep investing in that. It's better to have a smaller squad of quality who are good enough for the 1st team. Rather than a larger squad with players who just give depth. I think the key is to have high quality players who can cover a few positions. Then use the academy for added depth beyond that. The suggestion in the itk thread is if Skipp wants to leave we should get another club trained. But if that club trained isn't good enough just use the academy as at least they have the potential to be.

 

[brasil_spur]

No chance we sign Edwards and another right winger though. Really to progress we don't want to compare to squad players who never play. We need to just think are they good enough for the first 11? If not, do they at least have the potential too? This needs to be our focus. We have too many we call good squad players.

I really don't think we do, outside of midfield.

GK - no good squad player.
RB & LB - no good squad player that fits Ange's style of football.
CB - only Dragusin, which is one player too little for next season.
AM - no good squad player.
RW - no good squad player that fits Ange's style of football.
ST - no good squad player.

 

[mil1lion]

I really don't think we do, outside of midfield.

GK - no good squad player.
RB & LB - no good squad player that fits Ange's style of football.
CB - only Dragusin, which is one player too little for next season.
AM - no good squad player.
RW - no good squad player that fits Ange's style of football.
ST - no good squad player.

The issue is we need to improve the first 11. So that then pushes players down to competition roles. It's better to do that in those positions. For sure I agree about GK and centre back though since they won't rotate too much and we will likely rotate with Dragusin. We need proper competition at full back (or at least one first team calibre who can play either side). For winger we need a first choice so Johnson has to compete as he's not good enough and consistent enough yet to be regular 1st choice. Same for Richarlison, we need a 1st choice. So while you're right we do lack some good enough squad players the 1st team needs to improve so then the depth gets better as well. So you have Johnson for RM and Richarlison for ST in your example. For CM probably Kulusevski moves there but I would go get Eze competing with Maddison there. That's what will make us a top contender.

We need to get away from 2 in each position for one formation though. We need 1st team calibre players who can bring something different and play in different roles. That will make us far less predictable.

 

[Spursberg]

Werner and Edwards as our new attacking signings……that’s not going to get us anywhere, it’s barely standing still.

Agree. Edwards is not even better than Solomon, he is just in the mix to fill a quota unfortunately

 

[Styopa]

Edwards coming in only works if he’s replacing Gil.
If next season our options are;
Werner Son LW
New striker Richie S
New RW Johnson, edwards

then Kulu rotates across wherever is needed I think it’s good.

We basically replaced gil, solomun and perisic with Edwards and Werner

Gil and Solomon hardly played last season. So whilst it could be helpful to have some additional options, if the new recruits are not better than e.g Johnson, Kulusevski or Son, then our peak level will probably not improve very much.

I suppose at least we might be able to keep the players fresher, which is useful. But it’s not like we had many matches last season anyway. Rotating e.g Werner and Edwards with Son and Johnson just doesn’t seem like it will raise us to new levels. Arguably it makes us a slightly weaker team when e.g we want to rest Son and start with Edwards or Werner.

Maybe it makes sense if we go big for other forwards. But I worry that this is about “getting bodies in”.

I’ll reserve judgement until all our business is done though. Maybe there’s some grand strategy underlining these links/moves.

 

[HarryKane]

All that being said though, Edwards contributes the square root of fuck all when it comes to pressing and tackling so I very much doubt Ange would be a fan.

This is the deal breaker, is Edwards the type of high work rate, press from the type of player that Ange demands? Nothing I've seen suggests that from youth football to now, he's that technically lovely, mercurial magic man in a Ginola or Hazard mould that needs freedom to do what they want to get the best out of them. You don't get to your mid 20s and suddenly device to have the work rate of Kulu, Son, Richi, Bentancur etc, they have that far before they turn professional. If he had that it could be decent depending on the fee, but don't buy a player that doesn't fit the system requirements

 

[worcestersauce]

Season's over, preseason training not started and transfer window not yet open so what else is there to do but talk about Marcus Edwards again.

 

[gavspur]

I don’t see the issue here with signing Edwards. He ticks a lot of boxes, and is an upgrade on someone like Gil for sure. He was also excellent against is a couple of years back. I think he’s a very good player, and different to what we currently have, so that gives us options. He reminds me of Sancho, but a hell of a lot cheaper.

 

[rawhide]

I don’t see the issue here with signing Edwards. He ticks a lot of boxes, and is an upgrade on someone like Gil for sure. He was also excellent against is a couple of years back. I think he’s a very good player, and different to what we currently have, so that gives us options. He reminds me of Sancho, but a hell of a lot cheaper.

We’re reaping what was sown with our transfer strategy, Poch’s reluctance to give the kids playing time and the Mourinho / Conte win now mentality. We’ve not got that conveyor belt of high quality club trained players over 21, as we’ve sold many of our prospects before they were given opportunities to develop.

We’re now having to revisit those that succeeded elsewhere to hit our quotas. And success comes with a premium.