Dominic Solanke has endured a slow start to life at Tottenham
Questions are being asked about Tottenham Hotspur after their dismal start to the new season. The North Londoners have picked up just four points from their opening four games this campaign, and it’s fair to say pressure is slowly starting to build on Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs were beaten 1-0 by bitterest rivals Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, leaving Ange Postecoglou without a North London derby win after three attempts. Tottenham spent a huge amount of money in the past summer transfer window and also managed to keep the core of their squad intact.
The Lilywhites created headlines in the summer by smashing the club-record transfer for Dominic Solanke, signing him in a £65m deal from Bournemouth. The one-cap England international put pen to paper on a six-year deal at N17 and was brought in as a replacement for Harry Kane, who left for Bayern Munich last summer.
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With a Harry Kane-sized gap to fill, Dominic Solanke will be looking to at least replicate his last campaign’s goalscoring form, when he netted 19 goals in 38 Premier League games for Bournemouth. However, he hasn’t enjoyed a slow start to life as a Tottenham player, failing to score on his debut at Leicester City before getting injured and missing the subsequent games against Everton and Newcastle United.
The 27-year-old recovered in time for the North London derby but he struggled to impose himself against the Gunners, failing to muster a single shot on target in the process. Now, ESPN pundit Steve Nicol has raised questions over Spurs’ recruitment of Solanke, terming it a ‘gamble’.
“Manchester City go sign Erling Haaland and Spurs sign—no disrespect—Dominic Solanke, so you know that means a bit
it doesn’t sound good but you know the point I am making,” Steve Nicol said in a panel discussion on ESPN FC Extra Time.
“So, do you really think Dominic Solanke is going to score like 20 goals a season for Tottenham? I mean it is more of a wishlist, isn’t it? I mean the truth is he scored a lot of goals last season for the first time and all of a sudden now he’s playing for Spurs and he is expected not to be Harry Kane but he’s expected to be the goalscorer.
“I mean you can’t expect Spurs to be in the top four if you are taking a gamble on the centre-forward because that is what it is. It is a gamble.”
A lot has already been said about Solanke and the money he cost for Spurs. He arrived as a marquee signing for the Lilywhites and hasn’t got going—majorly due to an ankle issue. The English striker is yet to score his first Tottenham goal, and he looks like a player who is under a lot of pressure right now.
However, it is still very early days for Solanke at White Hart Lane and the amount of criticism levelled at him from the media has been ridiculous. The £90,000-per-week centre-forward has only played two games for Spurs thus far, and one of those came against a team with the division’s best defensive record.
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Solanke displayed last season that he has the required qualities to be a fantastic Premier League striker, and he will certainly eventually begin to develop relationships with his teammates on the pitch and repay that £65m transfer fee to the Big Ange-managed club.
