IN THE BIGGEST bilingual city in the world there is, alas, no direct translation for hump day. The Francophone locals just go with mercredi and get on with it. Wednesday was both hump day but also off day for the Ireland international team here and while some of his teammates made for the golf course, Mason Melia was happy to take things easier.

Fresh from his international debut, the 18-year-old Tottenham Hotspur striker isn’t nursing his body or forced to play it safe. Quite the opposite. Melia cross the Atlantic last weekend with a first Ireland cap in his bag and has “never felt more physically better”.

He’s also bigger. Melia revealed that he has grown both taller and broader in the five months since he swapped Inchicore for the white half of North London. So much so that it has taken the League of Ireland contingent, who make up almost a third of Heimir Hallgrímsson’s travelling party in Canada, by surprise.

Melia debuted for Ireland against Qatar last week. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

“I think I’ve grown a good bit since I went to Spurs. Seeing the people that I played a little bit with, they were like ‘Jesus, you’re looking so different’,” Melia said at the team’s downtown base on Wednesday. “I’ve grown a little bit [taller], just a little bit. I’ve put on more muscle, I’m a bit bigger, wider as well. I’m in a good place at the moment, I’m happy.”

At least some of the seven current LOI players in the panel pestered the recent graduate for the gym programme he’s been following. Melia’s recovery regimen would be handy too. Having waited nearly a year to complete his record-transfer move to Tottenham, his arrival in January hit an instant snag when a scan discovered stress fractures in his back.

In essence, he missed both the end of the Thomas Frank era and the entire Igor Tudor spell but made it back in time for Roberto De Zerbi’s late season rescue act. A goal on his debut for the club’s U21s in April was enough to see Melia elevated to first-team training where he took on the likes of Micky Van de Ven and Cristian Romero.

“I’m delighted they stayed up. I think clubs never [want to] be in that position, but everyone the last few months could feel the pressure,” said Melia.

Spurs have been very intense over the last few months, obviously. De Zerbi came in and he’s been very good for the lads, but very intense training.”

Unlike so many teens who’d arrive at a Premier League giant, first-team exposure is not an alien thing for Melia. He played nearly 100 League of Ireland matches before the move. He’s hopeful his first international cap, won when he replaced Troy Parrott in victory over Qatar last Thursday, can help him stay in among the Spurs elites when they all return later this summer.

“I want to be playing first team football again, I’ve said it to the club as well, they know that as well. So it’s just seeing what’s right, what the manager and what everyone at the club wants. At the moment I’m not quite sure, they want me to come in pre-season. So I want to do as well and just show the manager what I can do, and do my best and see what goes from there.”

A second cap Friday night looks likely. Melia is eager to impress: “I think there’s a lot more opportunities this camp for people to be called up, and I’ve been trying to prove my point, really get across and try and answer how good I can be.”