Gedson, Spurs and Mourinho ‘the perfect match’ – view from Portugal

We got a first glimpse of Gedson Fernandes in action on Saturday after our new loan signing from Benfica made a second-half substitute appearance in the goalless draw at Watford.

For an in-depth view of what we can expect from the 21-year-old Portuguese international, we turned to Tiago Peres Costa of Sport TV – the Premier League broadcast rights-holders in Portugal – for his opinions on the talents of our latest arrival, with the broadcaster having closely followed the promising youngster’s career to date...

Gedson’s early development

Tiago Peres Costa: “Gedson has huge potential, a great talent. He was always one of the best products that Benfica produced. He was in the UEFA Youth League Final with Joao Felix and Ruben Dias – guys that are doing very well – in 2017. After that Final where they lost to Salzburg, he had one season in the Benfica B squad where he did very well and got promoted to the main squad in 2018/19. He was in the starting XI in the first four or five months, he played very well with Rui Vitoria, the previous coach, he helped Benfica to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage, scored goals in the qualifying matches and was doing very, very well as a central midfielder.”

Positional play

Tiago Peres Costa: “He started not to be in the starting XI because in January last year, Benfica changed their coach and the new man, Bruno Lage, changed the formation. With Vitoria they played in a 4-3-3 with Gedson in the midfield positions, sometimes as a number eight, other times close to the striker, but Bruno changed the formation and Gedson lost his position in the squad in the league. But in the Europa League he played many times in the second half of last season.

"I remember one match against Eintracht Frankfurt (Europa League quarter-final, first leg) where Joao Felix scored three goals – Gedson started close to Joao Felix, behind the striker. He’s a guy that can balance the team, can defend well and attack very well. He’s a player that can play in the central midfield position like a box-to-box player, he can defend and attack very well, but also he can play not as a winger but as a right-midfielder to balance the team. He is quick, he passes very well, he defends well and he has huge intensity levels but maybe, in my opinion, he can improve his finishing and heading because he can get into the opponents’ box very well.”

Gedson’s character

Tiago Peres Costa: “I think he’s a little shy. He’s very humble and in my opinion he doesn’t know how good he can be. When he lost his place in the starting XI at Benfica he also started to lose some confidence and I think, with confidence, he has to gain that back because he’s very, very good. He was selected to the national team in that early period, he played two friendly matches with Portugal at 19 years old so then you understand the potential and the talent that he has, because Portugal nowadays has lots of talent and he was selected to play in the national team at that age. In my opinion, Gedson can be a top, top player but he is only 21 years old.”

A good reputation

Tiago Peres Costa: “Portuguese people know him from Benfica. He was very important. Benfica is the best supported team in Portugal and he was fundamental, a star in that period, a young guy who was promoted and made an immediate impact in the team. He was also selected for the national team so Portuguese people understand him as someone with great potential but sometimes with a lack of confidence. Jose Mourinho can give him that mental strength that he needs.”

A ‘perfect match’ at Spurs

Tiago Peres Costa: “Mourinho likes players who have huge potential but aren’t at the very top yet – players that can be world-class but are not yet. For Gedson, I think it’s a question of time. I don’t imagine him next week or next month making a huge impact for Tottenham – maybe in this second part of the season it will be a question of adaptation and for sure, next season, he will be a huge element in the squad in my opinion. We cannot forget that he is only 21 years old, it was his birthday at the beginning of January and this is the first time he’s left Portugal, but he has his family in London so I think it will be the perfect match – being coached by Mourinho and playing with Tottenham.”