Lucas Moura’s first start for Tottenham Hotspur: Three things we learned

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A look at the takeaways from Lucas’ impressive performance for Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham Hotspur fans have had to wait a fortnight longer than they would have hoped, but they finally got to see Lucas Moura make his first start for the club yesterday.

And it was worth the wait.

Lucas scored in a 2-2 draw with Rochdale, playing over an hour of the tricky away fixture.

Here are three things we learned from the Brazilian’s performance.

Pochettino has finally found what he’s been looking for

Mauricio Pochettino has been trying to find a suitable winger for Spurs since 2015.

He has had a particular type, a pacy player keen to take on opponents with an eye for goal, but Clinton N’Jie and Georges-Kevin N’Koudou were flops.

Third time around Tottenham have paid a little more, and appear to have got a superior player as a results

Lucas added a different edge to Tottenham’s game with his willingness to put defenders on the back foot and he has already done more in one match than N’Koudou has in 18 months.

Lucas’ vision can match his dribbling ability

Lucas trickery and willingness to run at opponents is one of his strongest assets but his passing should not be under rated either.

Early in the first half after beating an opponent he lofted an inch perfect ball into the box onto the foot of Heung-Min Son, who saw his effort blocked.

The Brazilian appears to have end product to his game and when he has Harry Kane in front of him instead of Fernando Llorente, he will look even better.

He might be Tottenham’s answer to Mohamed Salah

It’s too early to get carried away just yet, it was ‘just Rochdale’, but Tottenham appear to have added a huge asset to their team.

If he can have half the impact Mohamed Salah has had at Liverpool then he will prove to be a bargain, and Lucas’ goal shows he could be a real dangerman.

He scored 18 goals for PSG last season in all competitions and he could take some of the pressure off Harry Kane in attack for Spurs.

A goal on his first start is a good way to begin and just like Roma now regret giving Salah up too easily, Lucas is likely to go on to make PSG question their decision.