Tottenham star Bergvall reveals he has no regret over snubbing Barcelona despite his side’s shoddy start to season
LUCAS BERGVALL reckons his rapid rise at injury-ravaged Tottenham shows he was right to snub Barcelona.
The Swede, 18, looked set to join the LaLiga giants last January but opted for North London at the eleventh hour.
And one key reason for the change of heart was a feeling that his chances of getting game-time were higher at Spurs.
Bergvall officially moved from Djurgarden in July for £8.5million — and is set to make his 27th appearance of the season in today’s Premier League clash with Leicester.
He has started five of Spurs’ last six games, netting his first goal for the club in a 1-0 win over Liverpool earlier this month, in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
Bergvall said: “When I decided, I thought that Tottenham was the best club for me. It is a great club with good ambitions.
“I feel I am getting better every day. Training with all the boys and all the staff, I’m getting used to it.
“It’s not an easy change coming from the Swedish league.
“Everything is different. The running, the physical part… everything.”
There was a lot of excitement around Bergvall when he first arrived, particularly after rejecting a club as mighty as Barca.
His new team-mate Pape Matar Sarr added to the hype in August when asked which of the club’s summer signings had impressed him most.
The Senegal star — who is a doubt for today’s game — said: “Lucas. He is a really great player.
“I really love his style. He’s never under pressure when he’s on the ball. Technically, he’s fantastic. He’s bound to be one of the world’s top players. He’s got all the assets. With work, he’ll get to the very top.”
It was some appraisal from the 22-year-old and, in truth, it took a little bit of time for Bergvall to live up to it with some underwhelming early-season displays as he got to grips with his new environment.
In November’s 3-2 defeat against Galatasaray, for example, he was guilty of holding on to the ball too long in the lead-up to the Turkish hosts’ second goal.
But he kept racking up the substitute appearances and making the odd start here and there, learning, improving, adapting, before really kicking on over the last six weeks.
Bergvall’s breakthrough moment came against Liverpool when he netted the only goal to give Spurs a precious lead going into the second leg at Anfield a week on Thursday.
Since then, he has been a regular name in Postecoglou’s starting XI.
Spurs’ injury crisis boosted his chances of playing but there have times when he has been picked ahead of the likes of England star James Maddison purely on form.
Bergvall looked exhausted as he dropped to the turf at the end of Thursday’s crucial 3-2 win over Hoffenheim in the Europa League.
That victory means a top-eight spot and a path straight into the last 16, without having to worry about a pesky play-off next month, is within Spurs’ grasp, with Thursday’s final group game against Elfsborg to come.
But it was also a vital victory after a horror run of results which saw Spurs win just one of their last ten Premier League games, plummeting down the table and even sparking talk of the club finding themselves dragged into relegation scrap.
And Bergvall feels it is vital to take the boost in morale from Hoffenheim into today’s game against the struggling Foxes and rediscover get that winning feeling in the league once more.
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Three points would also ease the considerable pressure on Aussie manager Postecoglou, who is facing a testing time midway through his second season at Tottenham.
Bergvall added: “It was an important game in Europe, we needed to win to keep going.
“For the confidence too, we’ve had a tough time in the last few weeks, so it was really important.
“It’s difficult. We have 11 or 12 fit senior players, maybe more, it’s a tough period. We just have to keep going and fight.
“Especially now in tough times, when we have a lot of injuries, everyone needs to perform.
“We have to keep going. We don’t have any other option. He’s the coach and of course we work for him.”