Savio joined Tottenham this summer from Manchester City.
3 Premier League played, no goals, no assists, and already leading Europe’s top five leagues for successful dribbles per 90. That is where Savio finds himself as Tottenham‘s season gets going, and that tension between process and product is the story of his early weeks in north London. w
WhoScored data puts him level with Lamine Yamal at 4.3 successful dribbles per 90, ahead of Kylian Mbappe on 3.6 and every other player across the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1. For a winger who cost £85 million, that is the kind of number that asks for patience rather than panic.
Spurs fans have had little enough of both this season. Four consecutive league games without a goal to open the campaign was the kind of start that tests faith in a new signing before it has had time to develop. Savio scored in the Carabao Cup win over Charlton in August, a 5-1 home victory in which he came off the bench and grabbed a goal and an assist in 19 minutes.
But in the Premier League specifically, the end product has not arrived. Draws against Nottingham Forest and Everton have been followed by a 3-2 defeat at home to Aston Villa last Saturday, and the £85m man has six shots and three on target across all three of those outings. The underlying numbers are good. The scoreline is not.
The deeper context is that this was never going to be immediate. Savio managed just one goal in his final season at Manchester City despite being one of the most direct wingers in European football. The creative output was always the argument for him: ten assists in 2024-25, a player who pulls defenders apart and manufactures chances for teammates. He is also averaging 3.0 key passes per 90 this season, which leads the entire Premier League. No player in the division is creating more opportunities and completing more dribbles than him. Someone will eventually put one of those chances away.
De Zerbi has been here before with a winger who needed time
Roberto De Zerbi saw something similar with Kaoru Mitoma at Brighton, a winger whose dribbling numbers were extraordinary before the goals came. Savio is 22, playing in a team still finding its shape under a manager in only his second full season in charge, and the WhoScored data places him in the same bracket as the best wide players in Europe right now. The goalless starts are frustrating. The profile underneath them is not a reason to worry.
