Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson praises Tottenham for signing Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth
There has been a lot of buzz and excitement around Dominic Solanke, who swapped Bournemouth for Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £65m earlier this month.
The former England youth international was in sparkling form for Bournemouth last term, scoring 19 goals in 38 Premier League games. It was his most productive top-flight campaign which attracted attention from a host of clubs, but it was Tottenham who won the signature in the end.
Following Tottenham’s capture of Dominic Solanke, Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has praised the centre-forward who could be the “difference” for the north London club in the 2024/25 season. He said:
“I’ve pretty much answered that in Solanke. At Spurs, Richarlison is a good player on his day, but you need more than that on your day.
“Solanke could be that difference because teams were starting to push up on Spurs and suffocate them, but Solanke’s pace and his threat in behind can help stretch the game for Postecoglou’s side.
“That could in turn help James Maddison, who didn’t get much space at all when he returned to the team after his injury. But Solanke will help him get space and, with time and space, Maddison can pick out anybody.”
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Ange Postecoglou guided the Lilywhites to fifth in the Premier League during his first season in charge, whilst having to deal with the exit of talismanic striker Harry Kane to Bayern Munich. After a strong start to the 2023/24 campaign, his team tailed off during the business end due to injuries and suspensions to key performers and narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification.
Playing without a natural striker—and that too without the services of Kane—was always going to be difficult for the north Londoners. The Greek-Australian tactician managed to get the best out of Richarlison as a No.9 to some extent until he sustained an injury. This led to skipper Son Heung-min being deployed in the central role, and while he did well, it is apparent that the South Korean’s best position remains on the left flank.
However, Spurs have learnt from their past mistake of not replacing Kane in the last two transfer windows by making sure to add Solanke to their attacking ranks this summer. While Solanke is nowhere near the quality of Kane, he is still expected to bring a presence up front which Spurs dearly lacked at times in Postecoglou’s debut year at the club.
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Off the back of a strong 2023/24 campaign, Solanke would be itching to make a flying start to his Spurs career and make a difference with his intelligent runs, link-up play, physicality and finishing skills. The former Liverpool man has arrived at the club for a lot of money and there is pressure to deliver, but the 26-year-old appears to be mature enough to live up to the expectations of leading the attack for a big club.
At 26 and entering the prime years of his career, our thoughts are synonymous with Mr Merson on Solanke.
