by James Lewis (From Haringey Independent)

SPURS BLOG: Sandro the new star of White Hart Lane

10:11am Monday 14th March 2011

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AMID the jubilation of Tottenham’s gutsy two-leg victory over AC Milan there has almost been a forgotten hero.

Sandro was without a doubt Spurs’s standout performer over the course of the tie and one seldom sees a young man look so composed in his first European campaign.

For Gareth Bale’s breathtaking destruction of the planet's best right-back Maicon in the two matches against AC’s rivals Inter, there was Sandro’s calm and mature performance against the Champions League’s most decorated player - Clarence Seedorf.

When the 21 year old signing from Brazilian side Internacional made only his second Premier League start against Bolton Wanderers in November it’s fair to say he looked like a lost boy and could not compete with the physical Trotters' midfield of Stewart Holden and Fabrice Muamba.

A place on top of the highly rated Brazilian players' scrapheap in the Premier League, which boasts names such as Julio Baptista and Kelberson, beckoned but his reaction to his nightmare start was one nobody expected.

He has clearly worked on the physical aspect of his game and has produced two stellar performances before and after the Milan tie.

In Spurs’s 2-1 win at Sunderland he looked every bit a top holding Premier League midfielder and this belief was further enhanced as he produced an outstanding display against Wolves at the weekend.

But it is his dominating performances against what many considered before the two games a world-class midfield, boasting the likes of Gennaro Gattuso (Pre Joe Jordan), Seedorf and Mathieu Flamini, that would have made everyone across Europe sit up and take note, with Inter already said to be considering a ten million pound raid in the summer.

Only in the team due to Tom Huddlestone’s absence, Sandro proved that although he may not possess the range of passing that the former Derby man has, he has all the battling and technical qualities that may keep him in this Tottenham side for a while yet.

When he secured the deal to bring the Samba star to White Hart Lane, Harry Redknapp said: “He is strong. He looks a very, very good player so I am looking forward to getting him here.”

This belief is looking more and more true game by game, and Spurs may have just unearthed a gem amongst the polished diamonds of Bale, Van der Vaart and Modric.