Erik Lima has revealed that Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou played a key role in his career development.
During Postecoglou’s time at Yokohama Marinos, he signed the 29-year-old on loan from Palmeiras in 2019. The forward was at the Japanese club for two seasons, scoring 24 goals and registering 10 assists from 48 games, and won the title in 2019.
ESPN Brasil state it was the current Tottenham coach who moved him from the wings to the No.9 position, and that helped transform his career.
Erik, who is currently at Japanese side FC Machida Zelvia, has opened up about the 58-year-old manager’s influence on his career.
“One of the greatest coaches I’ve ever had. He changed me a lot as an athlete and even the way I think about the game,” he told ESPN Brasil.
“He doubled my potential. Not only in my individual numbers, but in the achievements we had together. I was the champion and then the team’s top scorer.”
When discussing the Tottenham manager’s brand of football, Erik explained: “I don’t remember having games with less than three or four chances to score goals. We exchanged more than 600 passes per game. If we exchanged less than that, he would be dissatisfied.
“We rarely scored a few goals. Doing this with players who weren’t so renowned is very difficult. At the time we managed to improve a lot and several athletes from our squad went to the Japanese team.”
When asked to describe Postecoglou off the pitch, the South American called him “big daddy” and used an incident to explain that. The coach released him from the match-day squad in order to be with his partner when his daughter was born.
“He told me: ‘No matter the game, I want you to enjoy it and then come to the stadium to celebrate the victory’. And that’s what happened,” Erik added.
“He gave a very beautiful speech to the entire stadium saying that a beautiful girl had arrived for the Marinos family. I always show this video to my daughter, who smiles every time.”
Postecoglou has transformed the north London club since he joined them from Celtic in the summer. Spurs are currently top of the table, having scored 20 goals from nine league games this season.
Erik has now backed the coach to be replicate his Celtic success at Tottenham.
“He built a family at Marinos. Wherever he goes I will be rooting for his success. In addition to being a great coach, he is a great person. He was very successful at Celtic and I was sure he would fit into any club with that wonderful style of play,” he added.
