It has been an absolute whirlwind in the English capital since Son Heung-min left Tottenham Hotspur a year ago.
Sonny left on good terms. Sure, Spurs may have finished 17th in the Premier League, but a Europa League winners’ medal was the least he deserved for everything he gave the Londoners.
However, his departure triggered a sea of negativity rather than anything positive. The Lilywhites have had three managers since his departure, finished 17th again and broke their transfer record to sign Sandro Tonali for £100m. It was a real roller coaster.
No one knows whether Roberto de Zerbi will be able to repair the rubble surrounding the club after Son’s departure, but he will need to solve some problems that seem to be deeply entrenched at this great football club.
Why Spurs need to sign a new winger this summer
Just as when Harry Kane left Tottenham three years ago, replacing such an iconic and legendary figure was never easy. That would be virtually impossible.
Replacing Son proved difficult, but given his decline in performance as he got older, it shouldn’t have been too difficult to find someone who could score from the wing.
On paper, last summer’s recruiting situation didn’t seem to be bad. They famously missed out on Morgan Gibbs-White and Ebelesi Eze, but still signed Xavi Simons, one of Europe’s most promising young playmakers, and Premier League proven Mohamed Kudus.
Randall Kolo Muani also joined on loan, but it’s safe to say that even after a year they weren’t really convinced. While Kudus struggled with injuries for much of the season, Simmons was just getting back into shape before suffering a brutal ACL tear.
Kolo Muani appeared to have made a strong development during the 2024/25 season with Juventus, scoring eight goals in 16 games, but his time in London was simply miserable, scoring just five goals in 41 games.
Other players like Wilson Odbert and Matthijs Tell also struggled, scoring six goals between them. Brennan Johnson was also unfortunately sold during the winter.
Spurs – Premier League top scorer 25/26 | |
|---|---|
player | Aggregation of goals |
Richarlison | 11 |
straw | 5 |
Romero | 4 |
van de ven | 4 |
telephone number | 4 |
Solanke | 3 |
simmons | 2 |
holy | 2 |
Given all this, a winger is needed. They don’t necessarily need to be as good as Son, which will be hard to find, but after signing Tonali and Matheus Fernandes, it’s clear they need to spend big to strengthen their front line.
Could Spurs finally replace Son?
Spurs threw the kitchen sink in this summer’s transfer window, announcing some incredibly exciting additions. But the cherry on top of the cake will be a group of shiny new forwards.
Bournemouth’s Eli Junior Crupi is a likely target to strengthen their attack, but Bournemouth are asking for more than £90m and are generally unwilling to sell.
As for Benfica’s Andreas Schjelderup, it looks like he’ll be able to do more this summer, but that could be a different story. Like Krupi, he is currently one of the most exciting young forwards in Europe, fresh off the World Cup, and was in the spotlight for Norway, particularly scoring a remarkable, if fortuitous, goal against England in the quarter-finals.
According to TEAMtalk, his stock has risen as a result of his performances on the world stage, with Benfica now putting a £68m price tag on the winger. Spurs are one of the teams interested, and ENIC officials are already in talks with the Portuguese side about a summer move.
Is he worth it? Well, it’s a lot to pay, but if you look at the stats you’ll see that this is an incredibly exciting winger with similar characteristics to the aforementioned Son.
Last season, Kjölderup scored 10 goals and provided seven assists, which aren’t shocking numbers, but there’s more to the Norwegian. In fact, according to ScoutLab’s comparison tool, he is considered statistically similar to Manchester City’s Rayan Cherki, RB Leipzig’s Yann Diomande and PSG’s Hviča Kvaratschelia in 2025/26.
why? Well, like all of them, and really like Son, he’s one of the best ball carriers in Europe.
In his prime, Son was one of the most attractive wingers in the world. His running was very exciting and aggressive. Few full-backs had a chance of winning the ball from him. He was incredibly progressive.
Schjelderup is cut from a similar cloth. Last season, the 22-year-old achieved 1.96 shot-end carries per 90 minutes, good enough to put him in the top 4% of positionally similar players in Europe’s top five leagues by this metric.
Additionally, he ranked in the top 6% in productive dribbles with 0.88 per 90 and in the top 3% in progressive carries with 5.76 per 90.
A carry is considered progressive if the ball moves toward the opponent’s goal at least 10 yards from the starting point or is carried into the penalty area.
In fact, the young winger’s ball control and handling are surprisingly good. Try to stop him at your peril. Like Sonny in his prime, he just walks right past you.
