

Argentine manager Mauricio Pochettino needs to be careful with the choice of words he uses to motivate his players, they could go into a downward spiral from which it could prove difficult to get out of. This exact same thing happened with Mario Gotze for example, manager Joachim Lowe compared him with Leo Messi and the next thing that happened was that he didn't live up to the expectations and got lost into obscurity.
With youngster Marcus Edwards who is a very talented left-footed winger, comparing him with Messi is the last thing he needs right now. He is at the early stages of his development as a player, but Pochettino doesn't seem to care as he spoke to the UK media about him: "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, but now it's how he builds his future – that's very important. It's our responsibility to tell him."
Photo credit: Tottenham Hotspur