An exciting player dreaming of an England return caught the eye in the Champions League. If Luis Díaz is anything to go by, he will be on the Liverpool transfer radar
Ajax may have been hoping to cause the biggest upset in the Champions League on Tuesday night against Liverpool at Anfield, but in the end it wasn't to be.
Instead, Liverpool made sure they were on the right end of the result with a late winner from Joël Matip. It was in Portugal where the biggest shock occurred; one that will have sent rippling shockwaves across the rest of Europe and for the rest of the teams in the Champions League.
Antonio Conte's Tottenham were supposed to be one of the dark horses for the competition, but punters who are placing their bets on the London-based side may have changed their minds after Tuesday night.
Conte's team were completely outplayed by Sporting Lisbon under the floodlights of the José Alvalade Stadium stadium, with Sporting grabbing two late but well deserved goals right towards the end of the game.
To rub further salt in Tottenham's wounds, one of the architects of their downfall in green and white colours was a product of their very own academy. Marcus Edwards produced a stellar performance — and while it was his stoppage-time replacement who scored the decisive second goal, the English forward had spent 91 minutes running the show.
The 23-year-old Edwards, who was regularly teammates with Trent Alexander-Arnold at England youth level, completed four dribbles out of his seven attempted against Tottenham. He also registered two key passes and was at the focal point of most of Sporting's attacks in the final third of the pitch.
His lively and industrious performance in a false number nine role was certainly an eye-catching one, and some have even suggested his recent form is deserving a call-up to the England national team, having made six goal contributions in eight games this season.
Whether Gareth Southgate heeds those sentiments remains to be seen, but given Edwards' age profile and his explosiveness as well as multi-functionality — he is well capable of playing in every role across the front three — he should at least appear on Liverpool's radar.
Julian Ward has already made a name for himself as someone who likes to shop in the Portuguese market and who has strong connections there. Liverpool's last two major transfers from outside the United Kingdom both came from Porto and Benfica in Luis Díaz (swiped from under Tottenham's noses) and Darwin Núñez respectively, and Edwards certainly has the potential to follow suit.
He will not come cheap, and a release clause of £52m (Telegraph) gives some idea of where Sporting value him. But having spent more than that on Núñez, a continued breakout year in Portugal could see Edwards come under serious consideration.
Comments
Post a Comment