From Jermain Defoe to Robbie Keane to Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur have been blessed with some truly elite centre-forwards during their Premier League era, often boasting a prolific marquee player to lead the team.
However, since Kane left in 2023, things haven’t gone to plan on this front, with forward after forward being overwhelmed by N17.
Dominic Solanke arrived from Bournemouth in a then-club-record deal of £65m, and it’s still hard to believe that it took a year after the England captain’s departure to sign his true successor.
But it’s safe to say it hasn’t worked out for the England international and he needs a replacement, or at least a real contender, this summer.
Why it’s time for Spurs to move on from Solanke
When the Lilywhites acquired Solanke from the Cherries in 2024, signing the Englishman who had just scored 19 Premier League goals at the Vitality Stadium felt like a statement at the time.
However, prior to that he had struggled at both Chelsea and Liverpool, never scoring more than six goals in a single season in the top flight.
It was in the Championship that Solanke mainly proved himself, scoring 44 league goals between the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, the latter of which helped the Cherries return to the Premier League.
Unfortunately, these goalscoring heroics were not replicated in the N17s, with Spurs’ debut season signing Ange Postecoglou ending with just nine league goals in 25 starts.
This was followed by just three goals in 2025/26, a season plagued by injuries for the 28-year-old, who only started 11 games in the top flight.
Solanke – PL Records | ||
|---|---|---|
season | Game (Start) | the goal |
25/26 | 15(11) | 3 |
24/25 | 27(25) | 9 |
23/24 | 38(37) | 19 |
22/23 | 33(32) | 6 |
19/20 | 32(17) | 3 |
18/19 | 10(2) | 0 |
17/18 | 21(5) | 1 |
Solanke, who will turn 29 in September, is expected to hit the ground running in north London, and it is not necessarily a long-term project.
Like Richarlison and others before him, it simply didn’t work out that way, which is why signing a new centre-forward is on the table.
Spurs backed in £90m race to sign Premier League star
While all talk is about midfield in 2026, last year proved to be the striker’s summer with Premier League clubs signing big deals in this sector.
Victor Goqueres moved to Arsenal, Benjamin Sesco joined Manchester United and João Pedro was acquired by Chelsea. Meanwhile, Liverpool have both Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak in the building.
Spurs were not in the market at the time, but with their rivals already spending big on the number nine, they may be given some freedom this time around.
Indeed, Roberto de Zerbi’s side appear to be leading the race to sign Eli Junior Crupi, although the Gunners are apparently also in the mix, with one reliable Spurs source confirming that the young Frenchman is interested in joining the club.
The deal comes after what were described as “positive negotiations” with the 20-year-old’s agent, with claims that the deal could cost up to £90m to finalize, with the issue now likely to be over whether ENIC can reach an agreement with Bournemouth.
Of course, signing Solanke from the south coast side hasn’t gone to plan, but while Crupi would still be a much more long-term investment, it’s hard not to be impressed with his incredible development over the past 12 months or so.
For example, in the 2024/25 season, the then Lorient starlet scored 22 goals in the French second division before sealing a £12 million move to England for the 2025/26 season.
What followed was a real breakthrough year for the youngster, setting the record for the most goals scored by a teenager in his debut season in the Premier League (13).
That’s because Crupi only missed three “big chances” despite boasting an incredible goal conversion rate of 25%. In Solanke’s final season at the club, he missed 17 “big chances” and had a goal conversion rate of just 17%.
Although he’s smaller in size and stature, there’s a clinicalness to Crupi’s game that makes him an attractive prospect, and the way he rifles home from range is almost DeFoe-like.
Defoe himself was once a star young player on loan at Bournemouth, and was a huge force in Tottenham’s glamor and was a natural goalscorer. In any case, in my opinion he is a bit of an undervalued figure when discussing the Premier League’s modern elite strikers, and his 162 goals in the competition is nothing to be laughed at.
The former England player can score from any distance and from any angle, and Crupi was equally deadly from inside 18 yards. In fact, he was praised by Thierry Henry, who said: “When he’s in the box, he looks a lot like Jermain Defoe.”
This view is echoed by Bobby Zamora, who actually left Spurs to join West Ham United as part of the deal to sign Defoe in 2004.
“He reminds me of Jermain Defoe. He’s only interested in quick backlifts, quick attacks and scoring goals. He also scores all kinds of goals.”
De Zerbi’s side are in need of a new attacking figurehead for next season, and such an appearance certainly bodes well for what Crupi can produce in a Spurs shirt.
