There was a time when Marcus Edwards was one of the most exciting young talents to emerge from Tottenham Hotspur’s academy.

Mauricio Pochettino saw something special in the diminutive attacker, even comparing him to Lionel Messi.

Almost a decade later, Edwards is back in English football with Burnley, playing in the Championship.

The journey between those two points has been anything but straightforward.

Edwards has enjoyed success in Portugal, won the Primeira Liga with Sporting CP and experienced the Champions League, but the Premier League breakthrough many expected when he was a teenager never quite arrived.

Pochettino’s remarkable Lionel Messi comparison

Edwards was just 17 when Pochettino made the comparison ahead of Tottenham’s League Cup meeting with Gillingham in September 2016.

The Spurs head coach was careful to stress that he was talking about the youngster’s physical qualities and style rather than predicting he would reach Messi’s level.

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

Mauricio Pochettino, September 2016

Pochettino called Edwards a “very good prospect” and said he had enough talent to become a top player.

But the Argentine also made an important point: what mattered was how the teenager built his future. His original comments were reported at the time, and the headline comparison would follow Edwards for years.

The warning behind the hype

By October 2017, Pochettino was speaking about a different side of the challenge.

In his book Brave New World, the Spurs boss admitted he sometimes wondered whether comparing Edwards to Messi had been wise.

He also described the youngster as having “authority and behavioural problems”, saying he still had to adapt to the discipline and sacrifices required of a professional footballer.

Edwards’ loan spell at Norwich City in 2018 did little to move his Tottenham career forward.

He made only one Championship appearance before returning to north London early, with manager Daniel Farke publicly questioning aspects of his attitude and behaviour.

There was another side to that story, though. In a 2019 interview with The Independent, Edwards admitted he had been difficult at times as a youngster, but said a back injury had affected his Norwich spell.

He also spoke about learning what it took to look after himself and live like a professional during his subsequent loan at Dutch side Excelsior.

Finding his feet in Portugal

Edwards left Tottenham permanently in 2019 and began to rebuild his career at Vitória Guimarães.

His performances earned him a move to Sporting CP in January 2022, where he became an established attacking option and enjoyed the biggest successes of his senior career.

He scored goals, created chances and featured in European competition for Sporting, making 120 appearances and scoring 24 goals across his three years in Lisbon.

He was part of the Sporting side that won the Primeira Liga, with the player who had struggled to make an impression in the Championship at Norwich finding a platform to showcase the close control, dribbling and creativity that had made him such an exciting prospect in north London.

Back in England with Burnley

Edwards returned to English football on loan at Burnley in February 2025 before making the move permanent that summer.

He experienced Premier League football with the Clarets in 2025/26, but Burnley are now back in the Championship, where the 27-year-old is again trying to make an impact.

He scored in Burnley’s dramatic 5-4 defeat away to Cardiff City on November 7, taking his Championship return to two goals in 11 appearances at the latest count.

Burnley’s match report described how he doubled their lead with a composed finish in the 25th minute. The Clarets’ official profile lists him with 11 appearances and 547 minutes in the 2026/27 campaign.

There have been signs that the teenager Pochettino once worried about has grown up.

When Edwards joined Burnley on loan in February 2025, then-manager Scott Parker said he had matured after his experiences in Portugal, while describing him as a special talent.

It would be unfair to judge Edwards solely against a comparison that Pochettino himself later questioned.

He was never going to become the next Messi, and that was never a realistic measure of success.

Yet there is little doubt that Tottenham supporters once hoped to see far more of a player whose natural ability was so obvious.