I'm from Argentina and I'm been following Argentines in Europe since 2006.
Erik Lamela is considered by thomas vickery (south american columnist) to being the best Argentine youngster. Better than iturbe, Ocampos, and Icardi. He is believed to be the next number 10 for Argentina.
He scored 15 goals and had 5 assist last season. Sabella (Argentina's manager) didn't want to call him up to the national team, the only reason why he got a called up was because Sabella job was in question. The skill, the talent, and the potential are all there.
Argentines with big hype generally do poor in England their first season. Aguero is the exception. The reason why Aguero did so well in his first season was because he had tevez, zabaleta, and other spanish speakers in the squad.
Tevez and Macherano were 22 years old when he joined west ham in 2006.I don't know if some of you remember but they were very poor in the first few months.
Mascherano played poorly in the three months at west ham before leaving for Liverpool where he succeed under a spanish speaking manager and spanish players.
Many people would say Tevez stay at West Ham was successful. In some way it was, he leaded west ham out of the regelation zone and scored the winning goal against man utd in Manchester in the final match day to save them from the drop. However Tevez took a long time to score his first goal for west ham. He didn't score a goal for west ham until March. He finished the season with 7 goals.
With that said, some columnist in Argentina believe that Erik Lamela will surpass Tevez in terms of being a great player. And saying he is the best player river produced in a long time.
Erik Lamela main position, the position he grew up playing was playing in the attacking midfield role. Even though he played on the wing at Roma, it's still new to him to play on the wing. At Roma he was being breed to take Totti's role after Totti's retirement. They wanted him learn to play on the wing. I think Roma (?) got a new president or director(?) and decided to cash Lamela in, because they always want to turn a profit. (I'm not too sure but I remember reading that the American owners want to make a profit every year)
Lamela transferred to England, a nation in which most Argentines grew up having a great distaste for. (Football Rivarly and Falklands.) According to the Argentina media, he wanted the move because it was the next step in his career to move to what he thinks is a bigger club. When he got there he was overwhelmed with the pressure in replacing the 100 million pound man. He really did experience culture shock. Culture shock is more than feeling out of place. You can feel depressed and experience other mental issues such as anxiety. The reason why he got it so bad was the pressure of replacing bale and having really no one in the squad who speaks spanish besides the 29 year old soldado who is also new.
People will say Erik Lamela needs time to adjust to the pace of the premier league and I truly believe that isn't the case. Erik Lamela confidence is so shaky right now. It's all a confidence issue. He feels alone not only in London but with his teammates. Put yourself in his shoes, think about being 21 years old Englishmen and going to Argentina to replace Tevez or Maradona at Boca Jr's and having no other player speak english besides and older teammate who is also new. His family joined him in London which shows how bad he is in terms of his confidence and loneliness. He's learning English in order to fit in the team better. (Something Tevez never did). If tottenham looking for a new player in January, they should look into a spanish speaker around the same age as Lamela.
I've seen the last few games that Lamela played and he is playing like a shadow of himself. It seems like he trying too hard, and trying to do too much which is making him play even worse. When Lamela has the ball, it seems like he doesn't have a quarter of the confidence he had at Roma. Even off the field he seems upset and lonely. I remember seeing him walk into Manchester Citys' stadium and looked so shy, lonely and uncomfortable. He had his head down and just looked very timid. He looked like he was the new kid at school during lunch time. (It's on youtube, Under Emirates Marketing Project tottenham tunnel). This is coming from a guy who had the confidence to do the hand heart celebration after a goal.
He desperately wants to score a goal to show he isn't a bust, which leads to him drifting too far up and getting caught on the counter. When he played for Argentina against Bosnia last month he "whiffed" on a sitter and looked absolutely devastated. He is going through a rut, right now. Goals aren't really a big part of his game. He is usually more about creative dribble type of player than a goalscorer. He just wants to score to regain confidence.
Basically, he only played 6 premier league matches, only had 6 shots in the premier league this season and already have a couple of assist. There is no need to worry about him being a flop. He will be a great player for Tottenham and just last year, Roma fans and the Italian media said he could be as good if not better than Totti. He could very well be the next Totti but for Tottenham. It's going to take time.
Anyway, I just wanted to show you what is going on in his head. A quick way to help him out of his rut and rebuild his confidence, is to scream his name in White Hart Lane when he plays and show him lots of love and backing.
