Sport Analysis
The Bournemouth striker’s one-touch finishing is one of his best weapons, something Postecoglou would no doubt appreciate.
Next Tuesday marks the first anniversary of Harry Kane’s move to Bayern Munich. Ange Postecoglou hopes to commemorate the date with the signing of a long-awaited replacement for Tottenham Hotspur’s record goalscorer.
Tottenham are reportedly exploring a deal for Dominic Solanke, following the Bournemouth striker’s best-ever Premier League season, in which he scored 19 goals for the division’s 12th-placed team.
It will be an expensive deal for Spurs if it materializes. Solanke has a £65m release clause in his contract, and the Cherries will be looking for a fee as close to that figure as possible if they are to sanction a sale of their best player.
Opinion on the move seems to have split a Tottenham fanbase that has become increasingly twitchy at a lack of first-team-ready recruits this summer. Archie Gray, the 18-year-old midfielder, is the club’s only close-season signing.
Solanke is regarded by some fans as less exciting than Viktor Gyokeres, the prolific Sporting Lisbon striker, and inferior to Ivan Toney, who was named in England’s Euro 2024 squad ahead of Solanke. Both have been linked with the north London club.
Part of the misgivings around Solanke revolve around his Premier League goal record of 29 goals in 134 games for Liverpool and Bournemouth. It is an unremarkable total, but context is king. Over 60 percent of Solanke’s appearances in his first three top-flight seasons came as a substitute.
It took Solanke a while to flourish into the frontman that his one-time Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho tipped him to be, but since Bournemouth’s promotion in 2022, he has shown signs of fulfilling his potential.
If last season represents the start of Solanke’s peak, Spurs could be acquiring a striker with Kane-like tendencies who perfectly fits Postecoglou’s Angeball philosophy.
Both Son Heung-min and Richarlison went through purple patches of goalscoring form as center-forwards in Postecoglou’s 4-3-3 formation, but neither was consistently convincing in the role.
Son is more effective facing the goal than with his back to it and is at his most threatening when making curved runs infield from the left wing; Richarlison is a more natural center-forward but can be clunky in possession.
Solanke is stronger than Son and better at holding the ball up and bringing others into play than Richarlison. Stylistically, he is more like Kane outside the box than the pair tasked with replacing him, and a few of his goals last season were strikingly similar to some of the England captain’s efforts down the years.
One of Kane’s signature finishes is a drilled shot low at the near post from the left-hand side of the box, and Solanke imitated that move a couple of times in 2023-24, notably against Manchester United when he body-checked Willy Kambwala before firing in from the edge of the box.
The spin and finish on the run against Aston Villa in December was vintage Kane, while the arcing header on the stretch against Brentford in May was eerily similar to a Kane winner against Arsenal in 2018. That was one of four headers that Solanke scored last term, which is evidence of his aerial ability.
An underappreciated aspect of Kane’s game is his defensive ability at set-pieces. Spurs have missed Kane’s aerial prowess from such situations, and defending corners and free-kicks was a glaring weakness last season. While Solanke would be predominantly tasked with scoring goals, having a player of his stature would come in handy at the other end too.
Solanke is obviously not as lethal a finisher as Kane is. He underperformed his expected goals (xG) by 0.64 last season. But with Spurs sharing the workload around more since Kane was sold, that isn’t necessarily an issue. Spurs need a striker, and a 19-goal campaign (including only two penalties) with a lower-half team is not to be sniffed at.
That isn’t to say that Solanke would be a like-for-like Kane replacement. He stretches the play by running in behind defenses and peeling out to the flanks and is less inclined to drop deep to link midfield to attack. He is arguably more of a penalty box player despite that being Kane’s forte when he broke through at Spurs.
That suits Postecoglou just fine. The Australian likes his strikers to stay high and be poised in position in the middle of the penalty area to convert cutbacks from the wingers.
Creating such situations is an integral part of Spurs’ attacking strategy, and Solanke is a capable one-touch finisher from crosses pulled back from the byline. He scored a deft flick at the near post against Wolves in December and another effort of that ilk against United at Old Trafford.
He also puts in the hard yards that Postecoglou expects of all his players. Last season, Solanke applied more pressure on his opponents than any other player in the Premier League.
“Pressing has always been part of my game. I work hard and I like to press,” he told The Athletic in February. That will be music to Postecoglou’s ears if he joins.
Too many members of Postecoglou’s 2023-24 squad were ill-suited to his style of play, which placed a natural ceiling on the club’s progress. It is telling that those who struggled to adapt have either left or are in the process of leaving.
In contrast, Solanke would be a good fit for this Tottenham team. If Postecoglou wants him, so should supporters.
