So far this season has been demanding Tottenham Hotspur and their fans.
Ange Postecoglou are still in three cup competitions and, therefore, have a real chance to break their trophy drought, but in Premier Leaguethey were hopeless.
Wednesday night’s defeat to Arsenal was the team’s 11th of the season, and after Thursday’s comeback win at Manchester United, the Lilywhites find themselves in 14th place heading into matchweek 22.
Now, there were some positives, like how Dominik Solanke has settled into the N17, but according to recent reports, his place in the squad could be under threat, as the club have been linked with a superstar number nine who looks significantly better than the Englishman.
Tottenham in the picture due to the goal-scoring phenomenon
According to a recent interview with journalist and transfer expert Ben Jacobs on GIVEMESPORT’s Market Madness podcastTottenham could be one of several teams targeting the Sporting CP star Viktor Gyokeres this month.
On the subject of the unlikely Swede, Jacobs said: “I also think Tottenham could enter the conversation for [Viktor] Gyokeres”, which could just be music to the ears of Spurs fans crying out for more goals in their team.
Jacobs did not mention how much it might cost Lilywhits to sign the Sporting ace, but he does report from earlier this week he reiterated that he has an £84m release clause in his contract.
A move across the border would likely be complicated, but given Gyokeres’ immense ability, he’s worth fighting for, even if it could be bad news for Solanke.
How Gyokeres compares to Solanke
The first thing to say is that Solanke has been a brilliant addition to the Spurs squad this season and hasn’t done anything to warrant his replacement, but in the brutal world of football, clubs have to take chances to improve their current players when given the chance, and Gyokeres would was undoubtedly an upgrade.
For example, in only 30 appearances this season, the “world class” scorer, as they call him BBC Sport producer Noah McIlroyhe scored an incredible goal 32 goals and six assistswhich represents an absurd average of 1.26 goals per game.
In contrast, the former Bournemouth star found the back of the net 11 times and six assists in 29 appearances this season, averaging 0.58 goals per game.
Unfortunately for the Lilywhites ace, the one-sided nature of this comparison continues when we look under the hood at their underlying numbers.
For example, the former Coventry City poacher is top in virtually every metric, including but not limited to actual and expected non-penalty goals plus assists, progressive transfers, passing accuracy, key passes, passes into the box, goal and shot-creating actions , successful downloads and more, all at 90.
|
Gyokeres vs. Solanke |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Statistics at 90 |
Gyokeres |
Salt pans |
|
Expected G+As without penalty |
0.83 |
0.67 |
|
Actual G+A without penalty |
1.12 |
0.71 |
|
Progressive passes |
1.67 |
2.27 |
|
Progressive passes received |
10.1 |
4.20 |
|
Progressive Carries |
4.08 |
1.69 |
|
Recordings |
4.15 |
2.29 |
|
Shooting at the target |
1.92 |
1.03 |
|
Adding precision |
73.4% |
72.1% |
|
Key passes |
2.11 |
0.87 |
|
He crosses into the penalty area |
0.92 |
0.58 |
|
Actions to create a shot |
4.60 |
1.93 |
|
Actions that create goals |
0.70 |
0.43 |
|
Successful downloads |
1.84 |
0.87 |
|
Ball recovery |
2.15 |
1.84 |
|
Aerial duels won |
1.18 |
1.74 |
|
All statistics via FBref for the 24/25 season |
||
In addition to having vastly superior fundamental numbers, the Stockholm-born ace also has experience playing in the biggest competition of all: the Champions League.
He already scored five goals in just six games in the competition, including a hat trick against Manchester City, so it is clear that the pressure means very little to him.
Ultimately, Solanke is an excellent striker, but Gyokeres is on a whole other level, and if Spurs find themselves in the slightest chance to sign him this month or in the summer, they must take it.
