Dominic Solanke was dealt an unattainable process when he arrived at Tottenham Hotspur in the summertime of 2024. He needed to change Harry Kane.
Now, no matter your title was, you have been all the time going to seek out it troublesome to reside as much as the striker’s performances in north London.
Nevertheless, for £65m, Solanke has merely not been definitely worth the cash. Whereas the previous Bournemouth man did rating 16 instances throughout his debut season, he solely discovered the online on six events throughout an injury-hit 2025/26.
Now, with no objective in his first 5 Premier League matches of the brand new time period, it begs the query: how can Roberto De Zerbi get his assault firing?
How can Tottenham enhance their ahead line?
Spurs spent over £300m on bettering their staff over the summer time however after scoring simply two objectives of their opening handful of Premier League matches, you do must surprise the place all of that cash has gone.
This has been a wretched begin to the brand new marketing campaign. It is their worst since Mauricio Pochettino left; not even Ange Postecoglou and Thomas Frank oversaw worse begins.
So, what is the resolution? Effectively, discovering a extra inventive participant to function within the no.10 place can be a begin. De Zerbi exclaimed that he “did not like” the efficiency of Mateus Fernandes towards Aston Villa. That a lot was clear when he subbed him at half-time.
In that recreation, he failed to supply a single key move. That will not assist Spurs within the slightest.
The excellent news is that whereas Xavi Simons remains to be on the sidelines because of a ruptured ACL, Mohammed Kudus and James Maddison are again within the squad. Dejan Kulusevski just isn’t far off returning both.
For the likes of Solanke and new signing Omar Marmoush, that shall be music to their ears.
Alas, the previous has confirmed that even when he has good service, he doesn’t have what it takes to be the beginning striker for Tottenham. Consequently, it’s certainly time to provide Marmoush a run of video games because the no.9.
He performed off the left towards Villa and has not precisely caught the attention from a large function as but. He had only one shot in that match previous to the worldwide break.
For a participant as ruthless within the penalty space because the Egyptian, De Zerbi must get him nearer to objective. Fielding him because the centre-forward and changing Fernandes would certainly see some improved performances within the remaining third.
Might the academy present Tottenham with a solution?
Not since Kane have Tottenham produced a younger striker able to making the grade at first-team degree.
It is not as if they have not tried, although. Sadly for Spurs, two potential choices in Troy Parrott and Will Lankshear have now each moved on.
So, who’s subsequent? In time, 19-year-old Mikey Moore might be the main man of the assault. 17-year-old Luca Williams-Barnett, who’s making waves behind the scenes, is another choice for that function.
He is supremely versatile and he is aware of the place the online is, scoring 16 objectives in 19 appearances final season at youth staff degree.
One participant who’s unlikely to be the reply, nonetheless, is younger Jamie Donley. The 21-year-old caught the attention of the supervisor in pre-season, with Spurs reporter Alasdair Gold outlining that the Italian is an enormous fan.
Gold said: “Jamie Donley has impressed Roberto De Zerbi to this point in pre-season. I can see why. He is received numerous capacity, a little bit of a wand of a left foot, and I can see why De Zerbi would really like him as a result of he may be an 8, he is usually a 10, clearly De Zerbi being a former 10 himself. He is very inventive, apparently he is regarded actually match and sharp in coaching as effectively.”
That stated, with so many new signings over the summer time, Spurs loaned Donley out to League One Luton City, the place he’s taking part in beneath Jack Wilshere.
So far, the previous Arsenal man has utilised Donley as a winger and as an attacking midfielder. He has one objective and one help to point out for his efforts.
De Zerbi might effectively price him, however his early performances for the Hatters are usually not doing a lot to persuade the pinnacle coach that he has a long-term future at Spurs. His efficiency for Northern Eire towards Hungary on Monday night wouldn’t have helped both.
Donley was chosen out of place because the centre-forward in that one. It was the proper alternative for him to stake a declare, to point out why he ought to have a future at Spurs, to show why he might change Solanke long-term.
Sadly, he wasted his alternative. The teenager was not a catastrophe, however he was comparatively ineffective at main the road. The Hungarians allowed him simply 12 touches of the ball, of which simply two have been within the penalty field, earlier than he was withdrawn after 70 minutes.
Moreover, Donley accomplished solely three passes all night time and managed just one shot on course. It is secure to say that the experiment to play the Luton loanee up high didn’t work.
Sadly for the academy graduate, it seems to be like he might must flee as Lankshear and Parrott did. He isn’t the Solanke resolution Spurs are trying to find. His performances initially of the season are all of the proof De Zerbi wants.
