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Dominic Solanke joined Tottenham in early August in a move that raised eyebrows amongst fans for a number of reasons.

Firstly, the amount of time it took for Spurs to sign a much-needed striker had many convinced that their targets were busy at international tournaments, and so they had to wait for their return to their clubs. Yet Solanke wasn’t part of Gareth Southgate’s last-ever England squad at Euro 2024.

Another aspect that was questioned was the 27-year-old’s club-record £65 million price tag (transfermrkt). Yes, Solanke hit brilliant form in the campaign previous, scoring 19 goals and assisting three while appearing in all 38 Premier League matches for Bournemouth (WhoScored?). But that had been the first time Solanke finished a season with a league goal tally in double-figures outside of the Championship.

Ange Postecoglou’s man

So why did Spurs spend all that time and money on the signature of Dominic Solanke? Ange Postecoglou was desperate to bring him to North London.

When asked earlier in the season about the signing, Postecoglou said “The reality was that Dom is the one that I wanted. It took the whole summer to get him in, but he was the one that fitted the profile that we wanted.” (Daily Mail)

Postecoglou decided that Solanke was the perfect player to lead his attacking line, not only for his goalscoring ability, but also his ability to press intensely, his impressive fitness, and his comfortability in dropping back to win the ball back at times. And it’s fair to say Solanke has showcased all these strengths in a Tottenham shirt already.

Slow beginnings for Solanke

Solanke suffered something of a slow start to life at Tottenham, battling a lack of fitness and an ankle injury, the England international didn’t bag his first league goal until the end of September in a 3-1 victory over Brentford (transfermarkt).

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Postecoglou was quick to dispel any early criticism saying “People are just so quick to judge, mate. It’s a small sample,” when asked about his slow start (BBC).

Solanke’s improvement has been more than evident in the past few weeks. The striker has racked up seven goal contributions in 13 appearances for Tottenham so far this season. While there is certainly more room for improvement with those numbers, they aren’t in any way poor, and his eye for goals was certainly unleashed at the weekend against Aton Villa, his performance hailed as “unbelievable” by Ange Postecoglou (Irish Independent).

Off-the-ball brilliance

Where Solanke has shone the most in recent weeks is his work off the ball. It has been key in Tottenham’s attacking improvements this season. His ever-determined press gives a sharp edge to Spurs’ notorious high-line, while his ability to track back and turn the ball over quickly, not too unlike Harry Kane, has added to Spurs’ clinical counter-attacking tendencies.

While it can be argued that Tottenham’s slight improvements in set-piece defending this season, having only conceded directly from two, can partly be owed to the addition of Dominic Solanke’s dominating stature. It’s these strengths that have proved Solanke the valuable missing link that makes this Tottenham side their most effective.

The Difference a year can make

Spurs spent last season with a mixture of Heung-Min Son and Richarlison up front, scoring 29 goals between them (transfermarkt), but they lacked these off-the-ball strengths that Solanke now brings in heaps.

Last season, Postecoglou brought his high-pressing philosophy to Tottenham, but it was seen all too many times that if the opposition found a way to beat their press, Spurs would find themselves in trouble.

The addition of Solanke transforms the effectiveness of this pressing system, and if the press is beaten, teams are finding it harder to race off on the counterattack thanks to Solanke’s ability to track back with the rest of the team. What Dominic Solanke brings to Tottenham could quickly become invaluable as he has the ability to harden the structure of Postecoglou’s system.

Tottenham must be careful

While Dominic Solanke is quickly becoming one of the most important players at Tottenham, it’s pivotal that Spurs don’t overwork the former Bournemouth star. This became clear quite early on when Solanke came from the south-coast club having appeared in every single league game for them last season, only to pick up an ankle injury on his debut for Tottenham.

Spurs’ injury woes seen last season have certainly transferred over to this campaign with Son, Wilson Odobert, Cristian Romero, Mickey Van de Ven, and worryingly Richarlison all picking up injuries already this season.

Tottenham cannot risk losing Solanke for a long period of time given what he brings as they look to pick up consistent results throughout the Winter months. If Solanke can stay injury-free and continue performing, there is no doubt he can be one of the signings of the season.

Tottenham’s former scout, Bryan King, who is still well-connected at the club, believes that the Lilywhites should not hesitate to offer one of their stars a new contract.

Tottenham’s U-turn on the future of key man

It was reported by GiveMeSport on Tuesday that Spurs had done a U-turn on Heung-min Son‘s future and decided not to offer him the South Korean a long-term deal for the time being.

Instead, the club allegedly decided that they would simply activate the one-year option in their captain’s contract, thus taking the deal to 2026.

This information was backed up by TBR Football, who revealed that the South Korean’s camp was shocked by Tottenham‘s U-turn as all parties seemed aligned during the initial contract discussions.

Bryan King disagrees with Spurs’ decision

Bryan King believes that Tottenham should not think twice about offering Son a two-year deal on fresh terms if the forward is willing to commit his future to the club.

The former Spurs scout pointed out that the deal will also make business sense for the North London club, given the 32-year-old’s star power.

Reacting to Tottenham’s U-turn on Son’s contract, King told Tottenham News: “I think Spurs should be asking Son if he wants to finish his career with the club.

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“Here is a brand-new two-year deal, and if the one year goes well, we take up the second year or if you want to go, we release you.

“There are a lot of Korean supporters that come over for Spurs’ matches, which will be very lucrative. Therefore, keeping him around for as long as possible makes a lot of sense.”

The hold-up might be temporary

Spurs may have simply decided to put off the negotiations for a few months, possibly due to the fact that they are currently in talks with potential investors (The Mirror).

Son remains one of Tottenham’s most important players and he is now the face of the club. It would be extremely surprising if the club does not offer him a new long-term deal before the end of the season.

Tottenham Hotspur and two other Premier League clubs who are circling over a South American star have been told that they will not be able to sign the player on a discount.

Next big export from Argentina?

Boca Juniors are one of the most storied clubs in South American football and have produced several players who have gone on to be superstars in the European and world game.

It now appears like winger Kevin Zenon might be the club’s next big export to Europe, with the 23-year-old winning several admirers with his displays in the Argentine top-flight.

Tottenham are thought to be one of the clubs following the Boca star closely but it has now emerged that a deal might not be as cheap as the Lilywhites thought.

Boca’s stance on Kevin Zenon

This latest update comes from LM Neuquen (as translated by Sport Witness), who named Spurs, Aston Villa and Newcastle United as the three clubs who are eyeing Zenon ahead of the January window.

The report says that the Magpies have even sent emissaries to closely observe the wide-man, who now looks like he will be heading to Europe sooner rather than later.

However, it is pointed out that Boca will not be letting their star man leave on the cheap, with the outlet pointing out that the Argentine club even rejected an offer of $18m (£13.9m) from Hoffenheim for the player.

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They say that the Premier League trio would thus have to come up with an ‘attractive offer’ to convince Boca, although they do not state how highly Zenon is valued.

Does Zenon have a release clause in his contract?

This is not the first we are hearing of Tottenham‘s interest in Zenon but this report contradicts the information reported by various outlets over the last couple of months.

While reporting on Spurs’ interest in the winger, the likes of Fichajes and Pasion Futbol claimed that the Argentina Under-23 international has a $15m (£11.4m) release clause in his contract.

However, LM Neuquen’s claim about Hoffenheim’s rejected offer suggests that there is no such clause in the player’s contract.

David Pleat points out that Daniel Levy decided against cashing in on many of Tottenham’s stars in the past despite the club’s financial pressures, revealing that he could have got £85m for a player who the club eventually let go for free.

Tottenham’s financial pinch during the stadium build

Many Spurs fans understandably feel that Levy should have backed Mauricio Pochettino with funds around 2016 to 2018 and that his refusal to do so prevented the club from going the extra step and winning a Premier League title.

The Tottenham chairman would argue that the club were in the process of building a new stadium and that finances were always going to be tight during that period.

While there is no doubt that Levy has loosened the purse strings a little more over the last few years, there continues to be a sense of missed opportunity among the fan base, given how close the club were to having a special team under the Argentine coach.

David Pleat defends Daniel Levy

Pleat has now praised Levy‘s resolve to keep that team together, pointing out that the Tottenham chairman did something that refutes the perception that he puts profit over being successful on the pitch.

The former Spurs manager remarked that the club could have sold many of their top young players for massive profits at the time, and claimed that Levy even turned down £85m for Dele Alli despite the financial pressures of building a stadium.

Pleat told The Spurs Show: “There are some wonderful things Daniel (Levy) has done, to get the stadium running, to get the banks to help with the money.

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“When that stadium was being built we had, I remember it clearly, we had England players, Walker, Kane, Dier, Trippier, there was another, Dele Alli, Dele was £85m at one time we could’ve got, we had good collateral on the field.”

Levy knows his legacy will be judged by silverware

Even though Levy has elevated Tottenham both on and off the pitch during his time as chairman, the huge black mark on his reign is the fact that the Lilywhites have constantly failed at the final hurdles and failed to win trophies.

That is something the 62-year-old is well aware of, which is why he brought in ‘win-first’ managers like Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, with those experiments backfiring spectacularly.

Part of the reason why Levy is reportedly determined to stay on as chairman even in the event of a minority sale is down to wanting to protect his legacy.

Inter Milan have now entered the race for a Tottenham Hotspur defender, who reportedly wants to leave the club in search of regular game time.

Spurs man proves his value to Ange Postecoglou

Radu Dragusin has had to wait patiently for his time to shine since his switch from Genoa almost a year ago.

The defender is now finally getting his opportunities due to Tottenham‘s injury woes, and he is certainly delivering, having produced flawless displays against Manchester City and Aston Villa over the past week. Unfortunately, those standards dipped somewhat against Galatasaray.

However, the speculation over his future continues to intensify as we get closer to the January window, with reports over recent weeks suggesting that both Juventus (Gazzetta dello Sport) and Napoli (Mirror) are plotting moves to take the player back to Serie A.

Inter Milan join the race for Rsdu Dragusin

InterLive have revealed that those two clubs have now been joined in the race for Dragusin‘s signature by Inter Milan, who are monitoring the Tottenham man closely.

The Nerazzurri reportedly believe that the 22-year-old is ‘looking for a new team’ as he is not happy with a fringe role at North London.

If Spurs do make the centre-back available for sale in January, it is said that Simone Inzaghi’s men are likely to make a move for the player.

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Tottenham will not shoot themselves in the foot

Dragusin is one of just three full-time centre-backs currently in the Tottenham squad, which is why it would be foolish for Ange Postecoglou‘s men to let him go.

Given Van de Ven’s injury record, the former Genoa man will undoubtedly have an important role to play this season.

David Pleat has been speaking about the Tottenham academy players who failed to fulfil their potential, revealing that he once thought Spurs had the next Christian Eriksen on their hands.

Tottenham have not brought enough players through

Not enough players have come through the Tottenham academy to make a real mark on the first team over the last decade or so.

During that time, only Harry Kane, Harry Winks, Andros Towsend and Oliver Skipp have had any sort of consistent success at the top level.

However, that now appears to be changing, with many feeling that a golden generation of Tottenham youngsters is now on the cusp of breaking into the senior set-up.

David Pleat says many youngsters underachieved

Tottenham’s former recruitment consultant David Pleat has now admitted that many of the youngsters who came through the ranks at Spurs failed to fulfil their potential.

The 79-year-old admitted that he was particularly excited about Alex Pritchard, revealing that he thought the midfielder would become as good as Eriksen.

When asked about underachieving Spurs youngsters, Pleat said on The Spurs Show: “There are so many others. I remember (Nabil) Bentaleb the midfielder who played the odd game. (Adam) Smith at Bournemouth, they have all had good careers.

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“Pritchard. I thought at one point that Pritchard would be another Eriksen, he did very well in academy games. Of course, (Ryan) Mason who we sold to Hull played so well with Harry Kane, they played well together.”

Prtichard’s career a cautionary tale

When Pritchard was coming through the ranks at Tottenham, many at the club considered him to be the best talent in his age group.

He and Tom Carroll were the real stand-out players in that group but the likes of Harry Kane, Andros Townsend, Steven Caulker, and Adam Smith have all gone on to have better careers.

Former Tottenham midfielder Sandro has decided to come out of retirement and has made a shock move that many will find hard to believe.

Sandro a cult hero among Tottenham fans

Sandro is one of the most popular players to have played for Spurs over recent decades, with the White Hart Lane faithful loving the passion and the spirit that the Brazilian showed on the pitch.

Injuries prevented the midfielder from living up to his potential as he exited Tottenham in 2014, and he subsequently had spells with West Brom, QPR, Udinese, Genoa, and Internacional.

Sandro eventually hung up his boots last year, but he has now decided to come out of retirement and sign for a non-league side.

Sando signs for Harborough Town

The Sun have now revealed that the former Brazil international has signed a shock deal with non-league side Harborough Town.

That means that Sandro will now be playing his football in the Southern League Premier Central club, which is step seven of the English football pyramid.

As one can imagine, the Leicestershire outfit club are over the moon to have signed the former Tottenham man, who is, by far, the greatest player to play for the club and the biggest name to ever grace tier seven of English football

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Club manager Mitch Austin said of the move: “What an unbelievable signing for the club, I really cannot express how I am feeling. I had a chance conversation with Sandro a couple of weeks ago and we got talking about football, told him about Harborough Town FC and the journey we are on and he has been messaging me ever since to sign on, totally unbelievable and gobsmacked is how I would describe this signing.

“These sort of signings don’t happen every day but when you get a chance to sign an ex-professional footballer who has played at the highest level in the Premier League and Internationally with Brazil, you just cannot turn it down.”

“Being a Tottenham Hotspur fan myself I knew all about Sandro. But when I looked back at a few photos online and there he was stood in a Brazil team photo with the likes of Neymar Jr., Ronaldinho, Thiago Silva, Dani Alves, and Marcelo, I was like what is going on, pinch me!”

Sandro will now play in a big FA Cup clash

Harborough Town made the headlines recently because of their giant-killing in the FA Cup as they ran out 4-1 winners over Tonbridge Angels.

It was the first time that the club had participated in the first round of the world’s oldest club tournament, and they now have a massive second-round tie to look forward to against Reading.

That means that Sandro will now have an opportunity to play against the former Premier League side as he gets set to don the colours of Harborough.

Dimitar Berbatov was stunned when Harry Kane made the decision to leave Tottenham Hotspur to join Bayern Munich, and the Bulgarian explained why.

The writing was on the wall for Harry Kane

Harry Kane had entered the final year of his contract at Spurs last year, and with the Lilywhites making a managerial change by bringing Ange Postecoglou in, it was the right time for the club to cash in on their talisman, given that he was not committing to a new deal.

However, many Tottenham fans were still living in hope that he would end up staying and it was hard for many to digest when Bayern Munich finally struck a deal with Spurs for the striker a day before the start of the 2022-23 Premier League season.

Predictably, the England captain has been breaking all sorts of records since moving to the Bundesliga, but Berbatov admits that he is surprised that the 31-year-old ended up in the Allianz Arena.

Dimitar Berbatov puzzled at Kane’s move

The former Spurs striker admitted that he could not believe that another Premier League side did not decide to make a move for Tottenham‘s record goalscorer, and allowed Bayern to poach him.

Berbatov himself famously made a controversial switch from Tottenham to Man Utd in 2009, and the 43-year-old wanted Kane to remain in the Premier League.

The pundit told talkSPORT’s The Line Up: “Harry Kane is a machine. I was crying that day [he left]. Well, not crying! But I was like ‘seriously?!’ No other club in the Premier League wanted him to stay here?”

Kane did Tottenham a favour

Kane could have run his contract down at Spurs and moved to another Premier League side, but he showed respect to Tottenham and their supporters by deciding to move abroad instead.

In fact, a few Premier League clubs likely enquired about the striker in the summer of 2023, but Daniel Levy would not have wanted to strengthen a direct rival and might have preferred a sale to Bayern.

Tottenham Hotspur have reportedly changed their mind about offering Heung-min Son a new contract and have now made a big decision on his future.

Heung-min Son into the final year of his deal

Son‘s current deal runs out at the end of this season, but Tottenham need not fear that their captain will leave on a free transfer.

This is because the club have the option to extend the forward’s £190,000-per-week deal by another season, which effectively means he is under contract until 2026.

It has now emerged that Tottenham have made a big decision on the South Korean’s future after considering offering him a long-term contract.

Tottenham’s U-turn on Son

GiveMeSport have now revealed that rather than offering the forward a long-term deal for the time being, the North London club hierarchy will just activate the one-year option in the player’s contract.

This is because Tottenham want to be cautious with the 32-year-old and they do not want to put a significant strain on their wage bill immediately by offering him a lengthy deal.

While Spurs are determined to keep Son at the club and seriously considered tying him down for many years, the club’s hierarchy now feel it would make more sense to activate the one-year option for the time being.

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Tottenham not ruling out new deal for Son

While the Lilywhites want to remain careful about managing their wage bill for now, it is made clear by GiveMeSport that they have not ruled out offering their captain a long-term contract and a pay rise.

It is explained that part of the reason for Spurs’ cautiousness is due to Son’s hamstring and thigh injuries over recent months, which has convinced the club that they should wait rather than make a hasty decision.

The report adds that the former Bayer Leverkusen man is open to staying at Tottenham beyond next season and that the North London club could offer him a fresh contract if he can avoid too many niggling injuries for the rest of this campaign.

Tottenham Hotspur are one of two clubs interested in signing Real Madrid prodigy, Endrick, on loan during the January transfer window.

Brazilian starlet yet to dazzle in Madrid

Endrick was seen as a big coup for Real Madrid when they struck a deal for him almost a year ago, with the teenager eventually arriving at the Spanish capital before the start of the current season.

The 18-year-old striker has produced a few eye-catching moments this season, with two goals and an assist from nine appearances for the La Liga giants, out of which he has started just one (Transfermarkt).

It has now emerged that Los Blancos are willing to send the Brazilian starlet out on loan so that he can gain experience.

Tottenham ready to pounce

According to Fichajes.com, Carlo Ancelotti’s men want Endrick to gain some experience in a top side so that he is ready to compete for a starting birth at Madrid.

Tottenham have allegedly shown interest in Endrick, with the North London side seeing the youngster as a good fit for their project.

The report points out that Ange Postecoglou enjoys working with talented young players and asserts that the Australian believes that the Madrid starlet would add ‘creativity and energy’ to his side.

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However, the Lilywhites are reportedly facing competition from Juventus, who feel that the Brazilian’s dynamic style of play would fit perfectly into their system.

Tottenham move seems unlikely

Despite what Fichajes claim, we know that Spurs do not tend to sign players on loan unless the deal comes with an option of obligation to buy.

Madrid are certainly not going to authorise such a deal as they see Endrick as one for the future.