OK, after a slow start and middle in the transfer window, the dominoes are starting to get lined up for some significant moves for Tottenham Hotspur. Today, Gary Jacob follows up on earlier reports linking Tottenham with a move for Dominic Solanke with a report in the Times that says Spurs are actively negotiating with Bournemouth, and are “confident” that they will be able to sign him in what’s left of the window.
The report is behind a paywall, but here’s the most important bit — Solanke has a release clause that will need to be triggered in some way, and his signing would be funded by the sale of Richarlison abroad, probably to Saudi Arabia, with Al-Ahli (which has fellow Brazilians Roberto Fermino and Roger Ibañez already on the roster) showing interest.
Tottenham hoped Richarlison would be the answer up front when he joined for about £60million from Everton two years ago but he managed only one goal in his first league season and 11 last season. Richarlison, 27, was on Tottenham’s tour but has been recovering from a hamstring injury since May. He has three years left on his contract and appears to have changed his mind about moving abroad.
—Gary Jacob, The Times
Most of us really like Richarlison as a person and a player, and it’d kind of suck to see him go, but there’s lots of smoke around this particular sale that makes me wonder if the club sees his recent injury struggles as evidence that he’s perma-crocked. He’s also very similar in profile to Solanke, and if Tottenham can get the £60m fee that they paid for him a few years ago back it would make sense, even if they have to give him a shove out the door. Don’t feel great about that if that’s the case, but football is a business and sometimes you have to make some hard calls.
That same Times article by Jacob also suggests Spurs are still looking for a left sided dribbly attacker (with Wolves’ Neto again linked) as well as cover for the left back position currently occupied by Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies.
So things are moving! Maybe not at the speed we want, but there’s a definite uptick in Stuff Happening™ and I have a feeling we’ll see some bombas coming in the next days or weeks.