Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with a transfer bid for a striker who could provide the goals they desperately need – but the deal could become complicated.
Tottenham Hotspur need a striker. More than two months after the disappointing end of the 2023/24 season, that remains as true as ever. Despite scoring 15 goals in five pre-season friendlies, Ange Postecoglou wants to see Son Heung-Min back on the left wing and a new striker worthy of the number nine shirt.
Spurs have a lot going for them right now, but they simply need to score more goals. That’s where Dominic Solanke could come in.
Last season, Spurs scored the fewest goals among the teams that finished in the top seven, with only two players reaching double figures in the league. Son, who did a fine job as a makeshift striker, and Richarlison, whose inconsistency has tested Postecoglou’s patience, were the top scorers. In contrast, Solanke scored 19 goals for a team with far less creative muscle.
Several media outlets, including the Metro, have reported that Spurs have approached Bournemouth about signing the former Chelsea and Liverpool striker, aiming to agree on a deal below his conditional £65m release clause. TeamTalk even suggested that Spurs might try to lower the price further by including one of their extraneous squad members.
Regardless of the eventual financial specifics, Spurs are the first and only team to have made a move for Solanke despite reports linking him with other clubs. Perhaps those clubs are put off by the substantial price tag, his relatively limited Premier League experience, or his specific skill set. But that skill set could be just what Spurs need.
Tottenham don’t lack creativity, innovation, technique, and pace in midfield. With players like Son, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, and Dejan Kulusevski, Spurs have a supporting cast with elegance, guile, raw pace, and more. What they need is a forward who can find and exploit half-yards of space and consistently stick the ball in the back of the net.
Solanke has the guile to find those little pockets of space and the physicality to get the better of defenders. While he may not be a great technician and his first touch can be imperfect, he has the nous to get into scoring positions time and again, and that begets goals.
It’s hard to imagine that he wouldn’t keep scoring at a team that can keep the supply coming – and Spurs should be able to do that. Finishing touch is one of the few big things they lacked last season, and it cost them a place in the top four.
So on almost every level, a bid for Solanke makes sense. One could argue in favor of other options and question the cost, but that could be eased by sending one of Spurs’ many unwanted players to Bournemouth in part-exchange.
The TeamTalk article names potential makeweights like Sergio Reguilón and Djed Spence, full-backs who have spent the last year on loan; Oliver Skipp and Giovani Lo Celso, midfielders who are behind others in the pecking order; and Alejo Véliz, a young Argentine striker who struggled to make an impact after signing last summer. Bournemouth could pretty much take their pick.
The Cherries don’t desperately need a full-back given the performances of Milos Kerkez and Adam Smith last season, but the latter is 33 now and Max Aarons hasn’t had the hoped-for impact. Spence, a decade younger, did well at Genoa over the second half of last season and has impressed Postecoglou in pre-season.
Véliz would be a replacement of sorts for Solanke but endured a frustrating year after signing for £13m from Rosario Central, managing just one goal in eight games for Tottenham and a loan spell at Sevilla. His best years are ahead of him, but there is scant evidence that he has the chops to fill a Solanke-shaped hole on the south coast just yet.
That leaves the midfielders. Skipp is a fine passer with excellent range who can time a tackle, but with Lewis Cook, Philip Billing, and Alex Scott, central midfield might not be a major priority for Bournemouth. However, manager Andoni Iraola has been experimenting with a 4-2-3-1 formation in pre-season, which could put more emphasis on a combative midfield pairing in which Skipp could flourish.
That same system could easily create space for Lo Celso, a creative number ten or left winger with impressive statistics but intermittent starts and occasional late cameos at Tottenham.
Postecoglou doesn’t rate him as highly as other players, but he is a deft player with an eye for goal and a good first touch. If Bournemouth need a number ten, Lo Celso could be a very enticing and economical option.
Of course, Bournemouth could take the cash and make their own signings rather than picking through Tottenham’s surplus. But Spurs may have more spare players than space in the profit and sustainability ledger, and Bournemouth could upgrade their squad from the squad men that Postecoglou is happy to cut adrift. In the age of amortized purchases and instant cash on the balance sheet after a sale, it’s unlikely the two clubs would agree on an actual part-exchange, preferring separate transactions instead, but don’t be entirely surprised if Solanke moving to Spurs sees someone moving the other way as well.
