Background
Marcus Edwards is a name that will be familiar to many Tottenham fans, but these days he is applying his trade away from England and attempting to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Jadon Sancho who hugely benefited from the move away to another country. In today’s analysis, we will be reviewing the background of Marcus in brief before analysing some qualities the winger possesses and how he got his big move to Sporting CP after making a name for himself in Portugal.
Edwards started his career at Tottenham where he started to be labelled as one of the bright talents for the future and represented England from the U16 level all the way to the European U19 tournament earlier on in his career. Marcus finally got his shot to feature in the first team but unfortunately, this ended short due to an injury that kept him out for some time.
After recovering from his injury, Edwards was unable to make the same impression as he previously did and was sent out on loan to Norwich. He was unable to make an impression there either during his loan spell at which point the season after he was sent on loan to Dutch side Excelsior. This is where he started to showcase a fraction of the talent he once was displaying to the likes of Pochettino at the start of his career.
Marcus finally got his permanent move which was to Portuguese side Vit. Guimarães. From this moment on, this is where the Englishman started to gain confidence and showcased his talent in front of the Portuguese fans. Over the 3 seasons at the club, he ended up being the team’s star man and contributed to 17 goals throughout the 3 seasons, with 7 assists.
Fast forward and Sporting CP was huge admired & signed up the tricky winger in the 2022 January transfer window. Sporting is a far superior team and will be hopefully playing Champions League football next season. This is a big move for Marcus, this is where he can further develop and be seen on a bigger stage, which may catch the eye of some English clubs who may want to tempt him to move back to the country.
Profile
Name: Marcus Edwards
Age: 23
Nationality: England
Height: 168CM
Position: Attacking Winger
Pref Foot: Left
Player Traits
Edwards is a tricky winger who typically operates on the right-hand side and often cuts inside with his left foot, so plays mainly as an inverted winger when on the right. The heatmap from last season backs up the previous point made and by playing on the right, he comes into the half spaces and looks to drift into the box when on the attack. Marcus prefers to take his man on and as his confidence has grown playing in Portugal, we are seeing this more often and a few tricks in the game in addition.
Data Analysis
Here is a high-level breakdown of the data analysed from last season where he played 18 games at Vitoria before moving to Sporting and playing 12 games there.
What does the above tell us about Marcus?
Based on reviewing just the above data, we can see that Edwards is someone who has the confidence to go through on goal himself rather than set up his teammate. This is shown with his 10 goals and 4 assists over the season last year. We can also see that Marcus is someone who likes the ball at his feet as per his 6.68 dribbles per 90, along with his attacking mindset as he ranks higher than average for successful attacking actions and progressive runs per 90. Finally, Marcus appears to possess a good pass with his passing accuracy percentage of 82% and made 3.5 progressive passes per game, which we suspect would be to make a move on goal for his side.
Marcus Edwards — In Action
Dribbling/Creativity:
As we mentioned previously, Marcus has grown in confidence since his move to Portugal and as per below, we can see from this clip that he does enjoy a 1v1 situation and opts to take the defender on as he looks to make a move on goal. Also, we can see that he looked to score rather than cut it back, which can be seen as selfish but also that he backs himself to put the shot away. From reviewing further footage, Marcus has been seen to cross from similar positions or even load up for an ambitious shot from outside the area. The way Marcus moves makes it awkward for defenders to commit and in a more impatient and physical league, he could potentially draw more challenges which can lead to free kicks or penalties for his side. Finally, in this clip alone we can see he drew 2 players out, which shows the respect the opposition pays him as he clearly is a threat that is not dealt with.
Confidence:
As we analysed earlier, Marcus is more of a striker of the ball rather than an assist for his teams. In terms of how he compares to the league, he ranks fairly average for shots on goal vs goals. However, we must bear in mind that the side he previously played is not at the same level as the top 4 sides such as Porto, Benfica, Braga, and Sporting where he recently made his move. Here is a clip of where Marcus had shot on goal from far with his “weaker” foot, which shows that he is not afraid to use both feet when required. Now he is at Sporting, around more quality players, may we see more goals from Marcus, where he will be playing for the more dominant side?
Passing:
Marcus isn’t exactly known to be a huge provider but as detailed before, he does appear to possess a good pass on him. Here is an example of where he makes a great through pass to get his team on the attack. Reviewing more clips, we can see similar patterns and for all his goals and tricks, he is a player who with 1 pass can slice a defence open.
Shooting:
As we analysed earlier, Marcus is more of a striker of the ball rather than an assist for his teams. In terms of how he compares to the league, he ranks fairly average for shots on goal vs goals. However, we must bear in mind that the side he previously played is not at the same level as the top 4 sides such as Porto, Benfica, Braga, and Sporting where he recently made his move. Here is a clip of where Marcus had shot on goal from far with his “weaker” foot, which shows that he is not afraid to use both feet when required. Now he is at Sporting, around more quality players, may we see more goals from Marcus, where he will be playing for the more dominant side?
Conclusion
Marcus clearly has talent and despite the past, it looks like he has grown so much since he departed from England. A winger who looks to be improving season on season and his start at Sporting has gone well, which is a great sign.
Being in Portugal, he probably isn’t mentioned as much as other young upcoming English players, who mainly play in England now but joining Sporting, personally is a good move for him.
If he can develop his game there and cope with the bigger stage then surely we could see Marcus back in England playing for a team in Europe.
