Sporting CP coach Ruben Amorim is backing Marcus Edwards for an England call.

Edwards, who was likened to Lionel Messi by Mauricio Pochettino when he was coming through the youth ranks at Tottenham, left Spurs in 2019 for Vitoria de Guimaraes for a nominal fee and 50 per cent of his next sale.

Since then the attacking midfielder has impressed in Portugal and he joined Sporting Lisbon in January for a reported initial fee of £6.5million.

Amorim has tipped the 23-year-old for big things as he prepares to face his old club Tottenham in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

"I think Marcus is a very talented player," said Amorim. “He's one of the best players for playing between the lines.

“He took a little while to adapt to the Portuguese lifestyle. We are a very young group. All this had an impact on the development of the player.

“He has so much talent. He can get much better. He can even get to the English national team. He has to focus more on training and all that is around it.

“Football is not just matches, it's everything in between. I trust him a lot. I know he can grow a lot. He has a long way to go but I think we did excellent business in signing him."