Tottenham Hotspur continued their pre-season preparations for the 2025/26 marketing campaign with an fascinating cut up of two video games on the identical day towards Luton City and Wycombe Wanderers.
The Lilywhites didn’t win both match, with a mixture of first-team and youth gamers, as they had been held to a 0-0 draw by the Hatters and a 2-2 draw by the Choir Boys.
New signing Mohammed Kudus, who arrived from Premier League rivals West Ham United earlier this summer time, performed within the goalless draw with Luton, failing to assist his workforce break the impasse.
One participant who was not in motion in both of the matches, although, was centre-forward Dominic Solanke, because the membership confirmed that he has suffered a minor ankle harm.
The England worldwide is the membership’s solely senior, pure, quantity 9 possibility, and he missed 14 video games via harm within the 2024/25 marketing campaign, which can go away Spurs cautious of going into subsequent season with him as their solely pure striker to name upon.
Why Spurs must signal a brand new centre-forward
The Lilywhites must be available in the market to signal one other goalscorer as a result of the workforce severely lacked a constant scorer within the Premier League final time period, as evidenced by Brennan Johnson ending the 12 months as the highest scorer with 11 objectives.
Solanke’s health points are a priority, due to the 14 video games he missed final time period and the ankle harm he has already sustained in pre-season, however his performances when match have additionally been regarding.
The 27-year-old centre-forward didn’t get pleasure from a very spectacular debut season with Spurs in entrance of purpose, as the previous Bournemouth attacker didn’t hit double digits for objectives within the Premier League.
Solanke ended the season with a return of 16 objectives in 45 matches in all competitions for the Lilywhites, however he underperformed towards his xG of 16.55 and solely 9 of these objectives got here within the top-flight.
The English marksman scored 9 objectives from 10.97 xG within the Premier League and 5 objectives from 5.58 xG within the Europa League for Spurs, which exhibits that he was wasteful in entrance of purpose.
|
24/25 Premier League |
Dominic Solanke |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
27 |
|
xG |
10.97 |
|
Targets |
9 |
|
Minutes per purpose |
245 |
|
Huge possibilities missed |
12 |
|
xA |
1.15 |
|
Assists |
3 |
|
Stats through Sofascore |
|
As you possibly can see within the desk above, the ex-Cherries attacker missed too many ‘massive possibilities’ within the top-flight and was not a dependable goalscoring presence for Ange Postecoglou.
It now stays to be seen whether or not or not he can step up his sport to be the constant goalscorer that Thomas Frank must push the workforce up the desk subsequent season.
That’s the reason the membership should signal a brand new quantity 9 choice to bolster their squad, and they’re reportedly a ahead who could be a giant improve on Solanke.
Spurs exploring deal for prolific striker
In line with CaughtOffside, Tottenham Hotspur are one among a lot of golf equipment exploring the opportunity of a deal for Al Hilal centre-forward Aleksandar Mitrovic.
The report claims that Premier League sides Newcastle United, Manchester United, and Spurs are all eager on a attainable swoop for the Serbia worldwide through the summer time switch window.
It states that Tottenham wish to add new gamers to their ahead line this summer time due to Richarlison and Heung-min Son’s declining type, and that they view Mitrovic as a participant who generally is a viable different to Solanke subsequent season.
CaughtOffside provides that Al Hilal are searching for a charge within the area of round €30m (£26m) so as to sanction a summer time switch for the prolific centre-forward.
Nevertheless, it stays to be seen whether or not Spurs, Newcastle, or Manchester United are ready to pay the £26m that’s wanted to safe his providers within the coming weeks.
Why Spurs ought to signal Mitrovic
The Lilywhites ought to push to win the race for the skilled quantity 9 earlier than the tip of the summer time switch window, as a result of he would are available in as a giant improve on Solanke for Frank.
As aforementioned, the present Spurs quantity 9 has struggled to attain objectives regularly and has been a wasteful finisher within the Premier League, however that’s unlikely to be the case for Mitrovic in North London.
The 30-year-old star, previously of Fulham, has racked up a staggering 68 objectives and 15 assists in 79 appearances for Al Hilal since his transfer from the Cottagers in 2023.
He additionally produced an exceptional return of 111 objectives in 206 video games for Fulham throughout his time in England, which exhibits that he’s additionally a confirmed and constant goalscorer in English soccer.
Mitrovic, who was described as an “absolute monster” by Saudi Arabian information journalist Matt Monaghan, is an skilled and confirmed goalscorer who might are available in to supply way over Solanke in entrance of purpose within the Premier League subsequent season.
|
Mitrovic (Saudi Professional League) |
23/24 |
24/25 |
|---|---|---|
|
Appearances |
28 |
23 |
|
xG |
26.60 |
17.41 |
|
Targets |
28 |
19 |
|
xG heading in the right direction |
26.26 |
22.12 |
|
xA |
2.48 |
1.33 |
|
Assists |
5 |
2 |
|
Stats through FotMob |
||
As you possibly can see within the desk above, the Serbian marksman has scored 47 objectives in two seasons within the Saudi Professional League, outperforming his xG in each of these campaigns.
These statistics present that he’s an extremely environment friendly ahead who can persistently put away the high-quality possibilities which can be created for him, or created by his personal motion and play in possession.
Mitrovic additionally scored 14 objectives in 23 begins within the Premier League through the 2022/23 marketing campaign with Fulham earlier than his transfer to Saudi Arabia, which exhibits that he can be an efficient quantity 9 within the English top-flight.
With query marks over Solanke’s skill to be the beginning quantity 9 that Spurs must kick on subsequent season, as a result of his lacklustre ending and underwhelming purpose return, signing the Al Hilal star for £26m is a transfer that would make numerous sense this summer time.
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Mitrovic might are available in as an enormous improve on the England worldwide, if he can translate his type in Saudi Arabia over to the Premier League, as he has the potential to supply considerably extra to the workforce in entrance of purpose.
