14th April 2013. football-italia.net reports "However, moments later Roma took the lead with a magnificent goal from Erik Lamela. The Argentine picked his spot from the outside edge of the box, curling into the far top corner past a flailing Gillet." The goal was trademark Lamela. He attacked the full back at pace, terrorising him, and floated a beautiful shot into the far top corner. It was the season, his season, for him individually.

Now, a year on, things haven't exactly gone to plan for the Argentinian maestro. In an alternate universe, Lamela has blown Spurs' fans minds with a sensational season, and fired Argentina to World Cup glory. However, in this universe, he's just been injured to be honest. For a long time. The most some Spurs fans have seen of him is his Twitter & Instagram accounts.

The club's record signing, and heir to Gareth Bale's no.11 shirt, was victim to both Andrés Villas-Boas bizarre man-management and Tim Sherwood's "4-4-2." Two tacticians with approaches from the opposite ends of the spectrum, each failing to get the best out of Erik, who admittedly suffered from back/hamstring injuries injuries throughout the season, but when fit, couldn't replicate the form that made him such a prized asset at Roma. Coupled with Andros Townsend's impressive early season form, Lamela struggled to set White Hart Lane alight last season.

With new boss Pochettino installed, endowed with a reputation for getting the best out of his players, can Lamela shine in the coming season? The new manager is likely to implement his 4-2-3-1 formation at White Hart Lane, a formation that perfectly caters for Lamela's needs. Pochettino prefers to use a fluent, attacking style of play, modeled on his mentor Marcelo Bielsa’s methods. He likes his full-backs to play high up the pitch, allowing the wide midfielders to tuck inside and create from a more central position. With the ability to alternate between wide and central attacking midfield positions, playing just behind the striker is ideal for Lamela.

Pochettino has been quick to support his fellow countryman. In a recent interview, the manager, who will be speaking in English this season, said "We know the Erik Lamela from Argentina and Italy. But he is still young and the Premier League is the most difficult league to play; the style, the language. But after one year we believe that Erik is ready to show his quality. Will he play as a No 10 or out wide? It depends on the situation. My philosophy is to give a freer style with good organisation but not only with Erik; with other players as well."

Lamela has featured in all four of the club’s friendlies, scoring twice against Toronto FC during the north America tour and again against Celtic in Helsinki . He was the man of the match against Toronto and Chicago Fire. His starting point has been sound conditioning – finally, Lamela is 100% fit – and, having not missed a training session, he appears to have the base to hit the ground running at West Ham United on the opening weekend.

Lamela celebrates his pre-season goal against Celtic with Aaron Lennon.

Below is a graphical representation of Lamela's 2012-13 form, and a comparison matrix from Squawka showing his breakout year in comparison with Gareth Bale's and Luis Suarez's.

Lamela's breakout year - graphical representation

Lamela's breakout year - Squawka comparison

Before you absolutely rip into me, I'm not saying Lamela is "the next Bale/Suarez." What I'm saying is that he clearly has rivalled them at his peak, and there's no reason why he can't recover this kind of form. 15 goals in 33 Serie A appearances was no mean feat for a 21 year old, particularly with the quality of the finishes he was providing, often cutting in from the right onto his preferred left foot before striking venomous attempts beyond the opposing keeper.

A tricky, mazey dribbler, he should be the key to igniting the missing flames of Roberto Soldado and supplying similar ammunition for the prima donna Emmanuel Adebayor. This season, he has the chance to finally prove himself on the big stage. Fully fit, fully flowing, there shouldn't be any excuses this time.

Time to turn back the dial to 2012-13, and get playing.

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About the author
Sean Tansley
Budding sports journalist and unbiased Liverpool fan.