Tottenham Hotspur wrapped up their pre-season with a 3-2 defeat to Harry Kane and Bayern Munich in their last match before the Premier League campaign on Saturday.
Dejan Kulusevski found the back of the net twice, including a goal in the first minute of the match, but strikes from Thomas Muller, Dayot Upamecano, and Serge Gnabry secured the friendly win for the Bavarian outfit.
Ange Postecoglou will now have his full focus on the opening game against Leicester City, newly promoted out of the Championship, at the King Power stadium.
The Lilywhites missed out on Champions League football for this season, finishing below Aston Villa in the table, and a top-four finish may be in the Australian boss’ sights this term.
Spurs have dipped into the market in an attempt to bolster their squad, with Lucas Bergvall, in a deal that was agreed earlier this year, Archie Gray, and Dominic Solanke all joining this summer.
The club’s latest signing was Solanke on a permanent deal from Bournemouth, which has been reported to be worth £65m, to improve the team’s attack.
Spurs eyeing new centre-forward
Despite that addition to the squad, Tottenham are reportedly in the market to add another centre-forward to the group to compete with Solanke.
According to Football Insider, Spurs have their eye on a possible swoop to sign Jonathan David from Ligue 1 side Lille before the end of the window.
The report claims that Postecoglou is lining up a potential move for the Canada international as there is continued uncertainty over Richarlison’s future at the club.
It adds that that Brazil international ‘could’ leave before the deadline passes but does not mention if there are any teams currently pursuing his services, though it does say that there are Saudi Pro League clubs monitoring his situation.
Football Insider also reveals that a number of Premier League teams are eyeing up David this summer, which means that the Lilywhites could face significant competition for his signature.
The report states that the Canadian marksman is now into the final 12 months of his contract with the French side and that has forced them to lower their value of him to £25m, which is why he has emerged as an attractive target for Spurs and other sides in the English top-flight.
If Tottenham do win the race to secure his services before the end of the summer then Postecoglou could have two excellent striker options, with him and Solanke.
What Dominic Solanke could bring to Tottenham
A £65m transfer fee will bring a degree of expectation with it for the English attacker, who has already proven himself to be a capable scorer at Premier League level.
Solanke has played in England for the majority of his career, bar a loan spell with Vitesse in his younger days, and does not have to adjust to the league or the country, as a signing – like David – coming in from abroad would have to do.
This means that Postecoglou and supporters may feel like he should have to hit the ground running this season, due to his experience in the league and his hefty price tag.
The one-time England international is coming off the back of his best season in the Premier League for the Cherries, having never managed more than six top-flight goals prior to the 2023/24 campaign.
Solanke plundered 19 goals in 38 appearances in the division last term and no Spurs player managed more than Heung-min Son’s tally of 17 in the league.
This suggests that the £65m signing from Bournemouth could come in to provide a much-needed boost in the final third for Postecoglou, if he can continue his impressive form in a Tottenham shirt.
As you can see in the table above, Solanke consistently got himself into fantastic goalscoring positions, as evidenced by his 19.63 Expected Goals tally.
He did slightly underperform based on the quality of chances that came his way but that should not be a massive issue, given how slight the underperformance is, if he can continue to get into positions for those opportunities to fall his way.
Solanke could, therefore, be a fantastic attacking option for Spurs and the club could land another excellent striker to compete with him by signing David.
Why Spurs should sign Jonathan David
The 24-year-old star, who was hailed as “mind-blowing” for his country by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has been a prolific forward in France in recent years and could come in as an outstanding replacement for Richarlison.
If the Brazilian does move on, to the Pro League or elsewhere, then Spurs could improve their team by swooping to sign David in reaction to that.
The Lille sensation, who has scored 28 goals in 54 caps for Canada, has racked up 121 goals in 267 appearances in his club career to date, which speaks to his knack for scoring goals on a regular basis.
As you can see in the table above, David outperformed Richarlison as both a scorer and a creator of goals during the 2023/24 campaign, with eight more goals and twice as many ‘big chances’ created in their respective leagues.
The £25m-rated marksman had also fired in an outstanding 24 goals in 37 outings in Ligue 1 in the previous season, which means that he has scored 43 goals in the last two league campaigns combined.
These statistics show that David has the ability to find the back of the net at an impressive rate at the top level, albeit he is unproven in the Premier League.
This means that Spurs could end up with two strikers in their squad – Solanke and David – who both scored 19 goals in a major European league last term, which could provide Postecoglou with all the firepower he needs to fight for a top four finish, and possibly even more.
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