Erik Lamela: How the winger has become the embodiment of Maurico Pochettino's plan at Tottenham Hotspur

Two years ago Lamela looked daunted by the physicality of the Premier League. Not any more

Erik Lamela celebrates his goal against Manchester United (2016 Getty Images)

Back when this season started, Erik Lamela could have been forgiven for feeling unwanted. Tottenham Hotspur had spent the summer talking to Juventus, Milan, Inter and Porto about a possible move for the man who had pulled up few trees in the 2014-15 season.

Had any club offered close to what Spurs spent on him in 2013 - £26million - he would surely have been sold. On the last day of the transfer window Marseille tried to sign him but the move collapsed in the final hours. Tottenham did not exactly look desperate to keep him at White Hart Lane.

Spurs fans, too, had been more divided about Lamela - sometimes inspirational, sometimes anonymous - than over any other player in the last few years. But not anymore.

There have been so many breakout seasons at Tottenham this year – Eric Dier, Dele Alli, Danny Rose - but few players have confounded their critics quite like Lamela. There can now be no doubt that he is indispensable to Mauricio Pochettino’s plans, and part of his best team. Spurs are a lesser side when he is not on the pitch.

This is because Lamela has remade himself this year. He is not the player that people expected him to be. He may have arrived with a reputation as an elusive tricky winger, but he has turned into something quite different.

Lamela is now the embodiment of Pochettino’s hard-working, high-pressing plan. He is their fiercest pursuer of the ball, the man who looks more desperate than anyone else to win it back within three seconds as Pochettino demands.

The quality on the ball has always been there but it is what Lamela does out of possession that has surprised so many. Along with Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Harry Kane, he forms Spurs’ first line of defence, and of all of those players he is the best at it. Like Alli, he has mastered the selfless inside run, dragging the opposition full-back with him, creating the space for his own full-back outside him.

Two years ago Lamela looked daunted by the physicality of the Premier League. Now he is not just up to speed but in fact stronger and tougher than most of his opponents. He has been working hard on his upper body strength and it shows on the pitch. “I like when the referees let us play for longer,” Lamela said in January, “I like it when there is a lot of friction.”

That is how it was against Manchester United, when Lamela delivered the best performance of his Spurs career so far. He scored the third goal, made the second, and started the move that led to the first. That came when Lamela forced his way between Morgan Schneiderlin and Chris Smalling, starting the move that ended up with Alli converting Eriksen’s cross.

In the win over United, Lamela won nine tackles, more than anyone else in the Premier League that weekend. He averages 3.25 tackles per 90 minutes played and 6.36 recoveries per 90 according to Opta, both of which his best numbers in his three seasons in England, and far better than most attacking midfielders.

Spurs are a different side with Lamela on the pitch; sharper, hungrier, far harder to play against. Pochettino has played this season perfectly but if he looks back there may be one mistake that stands out. Spurs were 2-1 up against Arsenal on 5 March and heading for first place. Lamela was flirting with a second yellow card so Pochettino took him off for Ryan Mason. Arsenal recovered their footing in the game and nine minutes later they had pulled it back to 2-2. Spurs have not been top since.

Lamela’s reputation first at River Plate then at Roma, was built on what he did with the ball. He is the only man to score a goal for Spurs with a rabona - against Asteras Tripolis in the Europa League in 2014 - and will be for some time. But this season he has understood the importance of end product, and has been delivering in those terms.

When Lamela swept in Danny Rose’s cross first time last Sunday, to put Spurs 3-0 up against United, it was his 10th goal of the campaign. Across his first two years at Spurs, the first ruined by injury, the second the learning curve, he scored five.

On top of those 10 goals Lamela has six assists, all in the Premier League. He swung in the free-kick that Toby Alderweireld headed in last Sunday, meaning he was involved in all three goals in that six-minute spell that blew Manchester United away. Perhaps the most important win of the season – 2-1 at Manchester City in February – came when Erik Lamela cut open the City defence with seven minutes left.

In one sense Spurs have finally got what they paid for. Lamela remains their record signing. In another, though, they now possess a player whose contribution is more complete than anyone could have expected. There are not many creative midfielders, in the era of 4-2-3-1, who defend with as much enthusiasm or selflessness. Nor are there many players who harry and tackle like Lamela who also have a rabona in their locker.

Of course Lamela is not perfect and there are times when he rushes his play, misjudges his touch or loses the ball. In that sense his slightly messy relentlessness, his willingness to try and try and try again until something finally comes off resembles compatriot Angel di Maria.

Like most Spurs players, Lamela has never played in the Champions League so is set to make his debut in the competition next season. There is now almost no prospect of him leaving White Hart Lane this summer. If any of Europe’s top clubs were to bid for him, Tottenham would demand to make a profit on the £26m that they spent on him. He has just over two years left on the deal he signed in 2013 and the likeliest outcome is that Spurs will extend his stay this summer.

“I always had my head at this club,” Lamela told the International Business Times after his man of the match performance on Sunday. “There was much talk at the beginning of the season that I could leave. But I felt that I owed something to Tottenham fans. This year, thank God, things have changed for me.” Yet he still gives the impression that there is more to come.