Steven Bergwijn Could Bring the Impetus That Tottenham's Season Desperately Needs

We can all agree that a player being 'like a new signing' after returning from injury is one of football's most ridiculous clichés, right?

No one puts Sky Sports News notifications on their phone to see if Eric Dier has recovered from tonsillitis yet, and you'd struggle to hear a murmur of anticipation circulate round the ground as Ben Davies returns from his ankle ligament injury.

So bear with me when I say that Tottenham's new signing Steven Bergwijn is going to feel like a new signing all over again when the Premier League gets back underway on 17 June.

Of course, it'll be even harder for him to feel like a new signing given how unforgettable his debut was in the first place.

Spurs' backs-against-the-wall victory against a ten-man Manchester City was one of the highlights of a miserable season in N17, and a day of surprises started off with Bergwijn in the starting lineup.

Plenty of heads were turned when the young Dutchman started dashing with abandon at a City side that had won the league with 98 points, and he didn't seem particularly fussed that he was up against none other than Kyle Walker, as he attempted to fashion an opening for Tottenham in a game of few opportunities.

When City suddenly went down to ten after Oleksandr Zinchenko's sending off, Spurs had an opening the size of a keyhole to take something from a match in which they had been comfortably second best, and Bergwijn was the man to take the initiative.

As if to emphasise the miniscule window of opportunity Spurs possessed, Bergwijn had a split second to set himself, control Lucas Moura's pass with his chest, and curve the ball around Fernandinho and into the bottom corner of Ederson's goal - and he made an elaborate sequence of movements look as coordinated as clockwork.

The Dutchman was almost flat from exhaustion when he came off shortly after, and showed in that pulsating evening in north London that he is a player who thrives on making things look simple when the game is at its highest tempo.

But things outside of Bergwijn were far from simple, as the storm which always seems to rage around a José Mourinho side grew in intensity in the weeks that followed that match.

With Harry Kane already sidelined for (what was thought to be) the season, Son Heung-min, the natural replacement, fractured his arm against Aston Villa, while Erik Lamela was as permanently sidelined as ever, to say nothing of the Cold War between Mourinho and Tanguy Ndombele.

Bergwijn, before getting injured himself, was called upon to contribute in a crucial period of the season, but in key matches against Burnley, Chelsea, Leipzig and Norwich couldn't register a goal or assist as Spurs made a royal mess of three different competitions.

While it would be easy to interpret this slump as Bergwijn regressing to the mean and struggling with the step up from Eredivisie football with PSV Eindhoven, but there is plenty of mitigation that must be accounted for.

At Stamford Bridge, as a limp Spurs withered against Chelsea, Bergwijn (who is 5'10", by the way), was tasked with leading the line, and unsurprisingly, Antonio Rudiger, and Andreas Christensen (6'3 and 6'2 respectively) were barely troubled by him.

Though he was largely in his favoured position on the left in other matches, when a player is looking up and seeing an out-of-form Dele in the middle, or Lucas Moura pretending to be a striker, some disappointing creative returns can be accounted for.

Conversely, what Bergwijn also showed Tottenham supporters over a short period was the myriad of ways in which he can be useful in the short term.

Even the most inattentive of viewers was probably aware of Bergwijn's speed and dribbling ability against Villa at Villa Park, with Dean Smith's back three thoroughly at his mercy as he tied Bjorn Engels up in knots to win Spurs a penalty on the stroke of half time.

Against Wolves, another exciting string to his bow - he knows where the net is. At the age of 22 Bergwijn already had 29 PSV goals to his name, and showed exactly why in Spurs' loss against Wolves, alert to where the ball was the entire time as he powerfully seized on Rui Patricio's save from Dele to score Tottenham's opener.

Bergwijn's contribution to the home leg of Spurs' tie against Leipzig, a game where Spurs struggled to execute their game plan, was subtler, but showcased arguably the most polished side of his game - his technique.

The Dutchman remains the Eredivisie's third-highest assist-maker this season, and there were signs of an understanding with another technical wizard in Giovani Lo Celso, who Bergwijn was continually finding on the left side of the final third.

His technique is also visible in just how accurate and aesthetically pleasing his shooting from distance is, with Péter Gulácsi requiring his wits about him to avoid the same fate as Ederson as Bergwijn almost beautifully curled the ball into the bottom corner.

And he did all of this with a barely functional left side, as Ryan Sessegnon continues to adapt to a big step up and Ben Davies continues to remain terrified of what lies beyond the halfway line.

If what Bergwijn can offer a fit and firing Spurs immediately after the restart is visible, it's also necessary to mention the long-term benefits of his signing.

Son, at 27, won't be around forever, Lucas is destined to remain an effective squad player, and the powers that be seem to be readying for Erik Lamela's departure this summer.

While many Spurs fans were bemused at Bergwijn's signing given the gaping hole in the middle of the park which probably needs to be addressed sooner rather than later, players always decline sooner than we think, and Bergwijn was just one exciting, younger piece in an atrophying squad that needed a reboot.

In the medium-term, too, he grants Spurs tactical flexibility and the capacity to rotate, allowing the two-footed Son to play on the right where necessary, or matching the Korean's intensity as a substitute.

Bergwijn is the classic 'do-it-all' modern winger, and as Liverpool have shown, you can never have too many of them. Keep an eye out for him operating at maximum velocity as Spurs finally attempt to get into gear.