Tottenham Hotspur have been looking to bring in a new wide forward in the ongoing summer transfer window, and in a bombshell exclusive, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano namedropped highly regarded Manchester City winger Savinho last night.
The North Londoners are said to already have opened talks with Manchester City already in order to secure his signature, with the 21-year-old reportedly open to moving away from the Etihad Stadium this summer.
Savinho joined Manchester City from Troyes in a highly touted €40m move in July 2024, but he was sent on loan to Girona for the 2023/24 campaign. And he enjoyed some magnificent outings in the Spanish top tier, where he netted 11 goals alongside 10 assists in 41 appearances.
And since moving back to Manchester Blues, he has shown some glimpses of his dribbling abilities alongside his playmaking intelligence, which gained him 3 goals and 13 assists in 48 appearances.
Given that the Lilywhites have been looking to bring in players who are highly technical and have that versatility about them since Thomas Frank took charge of the proceedings at Hotspur Way, the 21-year-old Savinho fits that profile perfectly. We saw him being one of the most talented young players during his time with Girona, and he fine-tuned that under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, and now he would be all ready to make an impact at Tottenham.
Could Savinho be heir to Son’s throne at Tottenham?
With Son making that emotional move to LAFC in the past weeks, the Lilywhites have been left with a mammoth task to bring in someone who can replicate his abilities.
And that is where Savinho comes into the picture; now he is not your boots-on-the-chalk winger. The Brazilian is more of someone who likes to drive with the ball (more from outside to inside), and then you’d see him drift into central areas whilst linking with the runners around him. We have seen him carving through defences with the ball glued to his feet. And that is exactly the sort of player that Frank likes in his roster, especially given that he deploys a structural system which uses inverted wingers to create central overloads (from what we saw from his Brentford as well as from early signs in the pre-season).
Savinho is an elite dribbler and has that capacity to keep the ball under pressure. And given his intent to play on the front foot, the 21-year-old tries to take up any tight situations and turn them into an attacking sequence.
Savinho gives you a lot of flexibility given his versatility
While the Brazilian is best deployed on that left flank, Savinho can also play either in that #10 role or off the right flank. And that is gold dust for someone like Thomas Frank, given how he is always looking to make in-game tactical tweaks and deploy a sense of positional rotations based on sequences.
Imagine having a front four of Savinho, Kudus, Kulusevski (with Maddison injured, he should be the most likely to start in that #10 role after he returns), and Solanke. It will give you so many movements, and the dribbling threat which those movements and angles of attack bring would be very difficult to contain.
You could start Savinho out wide on either side and end up shifting him centrally if the opponents’ tactics call for it, and you will still keep the opposition guessing.
Why would bringing Savinho to Tottenham be scary?
From what we have seen of Savinho at Man City and at Girona, he has exemplary potential, and then you put him under Thomas Frank at Tottenham, where he will not be a person to just fill a role; the structure will work to use the best of his abilities to take the potential of the attacking setup to the next level.
And Savinho is unpredictable with the ball at his feet and has that technical ability which will help Thomas Frank use him in multiple roles.
Moreover, given that he is still very young, the Dane head coach can also work with him to aid him in reaching his high potential.
If we are to add Savinho to the current attacking roster at Hotspur Way, we not only replace Son in the long term but also end up raising the technical level of the team right now. And that is a scary thought.
