The future is bright for England. They were winners at the 2017 U17 World Cup, 2017 Toulon Cup, 2017 U20 World Cup, 2017 U19 European Championship, and runners-up in the 2017 U17 Championship. However, theres been a real surge of players furthering their careers abroad, be it on loan or a permanent transfer. Jadon Sancho at Borussia Dortmund and Reiss Nelson (the latter loan) have opted to play in the Bundesliga, for example.
The Netherlands has also been a place of choice for the countrys young starlets. With Dan Crowley of Arsenal at Willem II, Max Clark formerly of Hull City, Greg Leigh previously of Man City, and now Tottenham starlet Marcus Edwards at Excelsior. But why are all of these starlets going abroad? In this analysis, we’ll look at Marcus Edwards, what the Eredivisie can teach him, and what this could mean for Englands future.
Role at Excelsior
At Excelsior, Edwards plays as a wide playmaker, similar to Lionel Messis role. His instruction involves less cutting inside to shoot, like Arjen Robben, but rather finding pockets of space and exploiting them with his excellent passing and lightning-quick feet.
His effectiveness in attacking phases is promising. With 10.94 dribbles per game and 70% dribble success rate incredibly high for a winger as well as an impressive 81.4% pass percentage rate, Edwards is an exciting prospect for Spurs and England fans alike. His lack of defensive duties, however, is quite worrying.
As seen in the heat map above, he rarely gets back to fulfill his defensive duties. This was a recurring issue during his time at Norwich on loan last season. His temporary boss Daniel Farke openly expressed his discontent with Edwards defensive abilities.
