It will be a big campaign for Tottenham Hotspur next season as Ange Postecoglou has had a year to settle in the Premier League and fans will be expecting him to lead the team back into the Champions League at the second time of asking.
But for that, Daniel Levy and Co need to get their work done in the remaining weeks of the summer transfer window, as they haven’t improved the Aussie’s squad enough at the moment.
Fortunately, reports suggest that the club is pushing hard to bring in the right players, one of whom could be a real game-changer for the club and help bring out the best in some of their players, including Dejan Kulusevski.
Tottenham Hotspur transfer news
According to a recent report from TEAMtalk, Tottenham have stepped up their interest in Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke and are ready to make a bid for his services.
The report claims the Lilywhites are ready to offer £50m plus a player to “sweeten the deal”, which could be Giovani Lo Celso, Sergio Reguilon, Oliver Skipp, Djed Spence or Alejo Veliz.
It’s an ambitious move, with previous reports suggesting the Cherries wanted £65m and nothing less for their star striker.
Still, even at this recent price, this move would still represent a significant investment for Spurs, but given Solanke’s form last season, it’s probably worth making, especially as he could help revive some of the club’s other forwards, such as Kulusevski.
Why Solanke would be a big dream for Kulusevski
Now, when it comes down to it, there’s one main reason Solanke can help bring back the best of Kulusevski next season: his production.
Only two Tottenham players, Son Heung-min and Richarlison, scored more than ten goals in all competitions last season, meaning the club’s wings lacked an effective striker to play in the middle.
We can tell this about the Swedish international from the Understat data, as he was marked as worse than the expected pass in the league by an incredible 5.62, while last season, when Harry Kane was in the team, he exceeded it by 1.52.
Kulusevski’s league record with Spurs
Season
assistant
Expected assists
21/22
8
4.15
22/23
7
5:48 a.m
23/24
3
8.62
All stats via Understat
So, if the Lilywhites can introduce a Premier League-proven number nine into the squad, then you can expect the former Juventus ace’s assist numbers to begin to return and luckily in Solanke, they could achieve just that.
For example, in just 42 appearances for the Cherries last season, the ‘rogue’ striker dubbed by former pro Kris Boyd scored 21 goals and provided four assists, equating to an impressive average of a goal every 1.68 games.
The brines are 23/24
Perform
42
The goal
21
assistant
4
Number of goals per game
0.59
All statistics via Transfermarkt
Furthermore, he finished fourth in the Premier League top scorer and that would be enough to make him the Lilywhites top scorer.
Ultimately, Tottenham need a clinical number nine to climb the table next season, and Kulusevski needs one to kill off the chances he creates and while he may not have the reputation of some of the other strikers on the market. At this point, Solanke proved that he has what it takes to score bags of goals in the Premier League.