Cast your minds back to the summer of 2013.

Tottenham Hotspur were negotiating the biggest deal in world football with star man Gareth Bale locked in talks with Real Madrid.

£85.3m later and the Welshman signed off from his duties at White Hart Lane and headed for the glitz and glamour of the Bernabeu.

Spurs, on the other hand, began to reinvest their new-found wealth across a number of new players which included Erik Lamela.

The £27m capture from Serie A giants A.S Roma arrived in north London with a glowing reputation, having scored 15 goals in 33 league appearances for I Giallorossi during the 2012/13 campaign.

A pretty impressive record considering Lamela was only 21 at the time, so Spurs fans were rightfully excited to see what he could do in the Premier League.

Unfortunately, the rigours appeared to be too much for Lamela at first and it was obvious he was somewhat out of his comfort zone.

Easily muscled off the ball and with very little end product, Lamela was nowhere near the player he was in Italy and many thought he wouldn’t last long in north London.

Then Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas only called upon Lamela nine times throughout 2013/14 season and even after the Portuguese manager was dismissed, chances were still few and far between for Lamela.

Tim Sherwood tried and failed with the Argentine but it wasn’t until current boss and fellow compatriot Mauricio Pochettino came in, Lamela started too slowly but surely demonstrate his worth.

Cruelly, a hip injury meant Lamela missed a year of football in 2017 and subsequently saw him fade into the background once again.

Fast-forward to the current campaign and Lamela looks like a completely different player. Strong, fit and with an eye for goal, the 26-year-old is really starting to showcase his true talents.

From 13 appearances across all competitions this season, Lamela has bagged six goals and two assists which accumulates to a goal every 138 minutes from 832 played (Transfermarkt). Really strong stats for someone that originally looked like an expensive flop.

Not only has Lamela proven he can replicate the form shown whilst he was at Roma, it’s becoming harder for Pochettino to ignore him and he can be considered as an invaluable member of the squad.

Not all Spurs fans will be in agreement with that but with the likes of Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen experiencing injuries and indifferent form this term, Lamela has filled the void magnificently. Even in the absence of Heung-min Son, Lamela has worked tirelessly to impress the Lilywhites faithful and has looked strong alongside Lucas Moura.

Pochettino’s side have a tough festive period coming up with a home tie against Burnley next up, who’ll be fighting for every point with the Premiers League relegation odds hotting up.

You can bet Lamela will be chomping at the bit to further his credentials.

For Lamela, it’s a remarkable turnaround as he has single-handily persevered and worked tirelessly to not only win over the Spurs fans, but he is showing the rest of the footballing community just what he is capable of. Even if it has taken him five seasons!

Posted on December 12th, 2018 by scott
Filed under: Article