With the dust having barely settled following Tottenham ’s dramatic 3-2 victory away to Leicester on Wednesday night, match winner Steven Bergwijn continues to be lauded for his remarkable heroics.
The Dutchman came on as a 79th minute substitute shortly after Leicester had taken a 2-1 lead at the King Power Stadium, as Spurs boss Antonio Conte made a desperate attempt to get something from the game.
And the Foxes were still 2-1 ahead in the 94th minute, until Bergwijn sprung into action to equalise and then score the winner in the space of an unforgettable three minutes.
The result ensured Spurs remained unbeaten under Conte since his arrival in November, while they moved up to fifth and just one point outside the top four with victory.
And the Spurs boss was full of praise for Bergwijn and reaffirmed his stance on the importance of keeping the 24-year-old at the club this month.
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Bergwijn hadn’t featured since the 3-0 Boxing Day win over Crystal Palace, after picking up an injury that kept him out of the following six games.
But he returned to the bench at the King Power Stadium on Wednesday night and made quite the impact despite coming on with just 11 minutes of normal time to play.
There had already been plenty of speculation linking him back to the Netherlands with Ajax this month, although Spurs had already rejected a £15m offer from the Amsterdam club.
Bergwijn has endured an adequate yet uninspiring two-year career in north London so far, often struggling to retain a starting place, which in fairness hasn’t been helped by injuries.
But after his incredible impact against Brendan Rodgers’ side, it’s clear to see that he still has a lot to offer on the pitch.
And Conte knows better than anyone how important he can be to the side for the remainder of the season, and is determined to keep hold of him past transfer deadline day this month.
Following the game against Leicester, he said: "In the past when someone asks me about Steven Bergwijn I was very clear.
"I said that for me he is an important player because he has characteristics that in our squad we don’t have many creative players.
“He is very good in one vs one, good to beat the man. He can play striker, he can play number 10 and for us, for me, he is an important player and we have to try to improve, to become stronger, not to lose a player and become less strong.
"Steven is a player that if he’s in good physical condition and he has good fitness he can start the games or he can come in and change the game. For me I think he’s an important player and you know very well the player has to be happy and I think the player is happy to stay with us and play for Tottenham."
Both Conte and Bergwijn will hope that last night’s heroics can kickstart the Dutchman’s career in north London, and you’d suspect that he may even be rewarded with a starting place for the trip to Chelsea on Sunday.
But it’s obvious that the 24-year-old has talent, and Conte will be sure to exploit that in the upcoming games and, hopefully for Spurs, the remainder of the season.
