Tottenham Hotspur reject Marcus Edwards could well be the one that got away.

He'll always be defined as a player that failed to fulfil his potential in north London, no matter how harsh that may be as it was his manager at the time, Mauricio Pochettino, piled the pressure on him with his remarks.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the ex-Spurs boss said:

"The qualities - it's only looks, his body and the way that he plays - remember a little bit from the beginning of Messi.

"He's small, he's left-footed, I remember a little bit (Erik) Lamela when he was at River Plate, remember he had long hair, when he was 14, 15 years old, there is a lot of videos on YouTube that you can see, that he took the ball, didn't give a pass and shot straight away.

"He is a very good prospect and potentially he can be a top player, but we need to be patient and tell him that he has a lot of talent, enough talent to be a top player, a great player."

Although it is Lamela, not Edwards, that still remains at the club.

The young winger only ever featured for 15 minutes in one senior appearance at Spurs yet he's gone on to prove his worth elsewhere.

Where is Edwards now?

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Edwards has thrived in what is undoubtedly the best season of his young career.

In all competitions, the 21-year-old provided nine goals and nine assists from 36 appearances, which includes a strike against arch-rivals Arsenal in the Europa League, and he has since gone on to become one of the first names on the teamsheet for the Primeira Liga outfit.

He averaged a whopping 3.2 dribbles, 1.7 shots and 1.4 key passes per game domestically, so perhaps he's finally starting to somewhat live up to Pochettino's great expectations.

Edwards was among the top ten players in the division and as a result, he attracted plenty of interest during the summer transfer window.

Leeds, Manchester United and even Spurs themselves were linked with making a move for the winger in a potential deal that could have cost in excess of €25m (£22.5m).

Vitoria managed to secure Edwards on a free last summer, so they'd have made a hefty profit if he did secure a move away, though clearly he's proven Spurs wrong as they gave up on him far too early in his career.

They can be thankful, for now, that he's still in Portugal though if he continues on this upward trajectory, then that asking price could rise tenfold.

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