This past weekend, Burnley and Leeds United became the first two Championship clubs to clinch promotion to the Premier League next season. And because Burnley’s coming back to the top flight, that means Spurs are set to receive an extra €3.5m windfall, according to Portuguese outlet O Jogo (via Sportwitness).
Marcus Edwards, a Tottenham academy graduate, is owned by Sporting Lisbon but spent this past half season on loan at Burnley in the Championship. The Clarets own a €10m purchase obligation that is triggered by their promotion to the top flight, and Spurs still own a 35% sell-on clause from Edwards’ dirt-cheap transfer to Portuguese side Vitoria several years ago. That clause followed Edwards to Sporting, and means an extra €3.5m in the coffers for this summer when his sale to Burnley goes through — not a lot, to be sure, but also nothing to sneeze at considering he hasn’t played a game for Spurs in six seasons.
Edwards was once the darling of the academy (we rated him the #1 Tottenham prospect back in 2017) but had a very rocky tenure at Tottenham, characterized by allegations of attitude issues and a number of bad loans that hindered his progress. He seems to have matured significantly in the years since his sale to Portugal. He was used rather sparingly by Sporting in the first half of the season but has been a regular in the starting lineup at Burnley this Spring, with 1G+1A in 12 appearances, tallying just under 800 minutes. His dribbling and take-on stats also pop, as you’d probably expect — he’s always been exciting on the ball.
That said, Edwards is 26 now and is probably the player he is at this point. We’ll get to see him next season in the Premier League and he’ll probably be both exciting and dangerous while playing against us, but that also gives us an opportunity to maybe see what Djed Spence or Destiny Udogie can do against him, and that’ll be fun. And he gave us a little bit of cash through his development, and that’s also nice. Thanks, Mini-Messi!