Realistic Striker options

Apparently we have two strikers in our team but whenever one of them play we seem to play with 10 men. Defoe had a good run of form at the start of the season and is now that he isnt scoring is fairly poor. Ade cant shoot and has been horrible all season but still provides better hold up play then defoe and occasionally helps the team by dragging players out of position and creating space. But overall both are useless for a top 4 club.

So who should we get that wont cost 20mil and will have an instant impact?

So who should we get that wont cost 20mil and will have an instant impact?

I reckon this is the way Levy will want to look at it (as usual) and this is the exact problem here and the exact wrong way to look at it.

Look at this Spurs team. You can find some holes in the team, but there are holes in every team. But I'd argue out of any CL competing team in ANY league, there is no bigger gaping whole in any of those teams than the lack of a striker in this Tottenham team.

Defoe, for all his early season form, is back to being garbage. He's got good mobility, fairly decent passing and his link up play is alright, however, he's still too selfish and his poor finishing doesn't give him the right to be selfish (this is where it's OK for Bale to be a bit more selfish, due to his fantastic finishing in recent weeks). Hell Vertonghen is probably a better finisher.

Ade has great link up play, great off the ball runs, and pretty decent passing as well. However his return this season is laughable and it shows that he's hardly even a striker anymore (look at player positions since Bale moved behind the striker- he actually plays farther up the pitch than the striker if Ade is playing). This is alright, but Spurs need someone who can finish off chances. Ade isn't that guy.

We're then left with Dempsey. Dempsey is a true 'Murican and is the Pride of America. However, he is not a CF, he is not a true striker, and he will never be.

Spurs have no true striker right now. So IF Tottenham can grab a CL spot...what's the logical conclusion?

Spurs need to spend money to get a world class striker who can guarantee goals.

And that is why we shouldn't look at it as "who WON'T cost 20 million". We should look at it like "who is a fantastic striker who will put the goals away for Tottenham, and is reasonably priced?" (I say reasonably priced because Spurs will probably never go out and by a striker for more than say 25 million pounds, and I doubt Levy is willing to do so).

With a great striker, more time with AVB, and maybe a good signing here or there, this team can become a league challenging team. So it's worth it to fork out the money for that striker. It's worth it to let Tottenham realize their potential as a team, and it's worth it to make sure Tottenham can continue finishing in the top 4 season after season (if they do so this season).

As for the actual question, my mind still lies with Damiao. I will go more into depth at a later time about striker options.

Decision will rely on our CL qualification, if we do can we pull one of Benzema/Higuain from RM? Surely one of them is sick of being the back up

No way Benzema or Higuain will ever move from a team like Real Madrid to Spurs in the prime of their careers. No offense intended either, Spurs are a respectful club, but nowhere near to land those guys. You guys need someone up and coming unproven forward that plays for a smaller (ish) club. Damiao is a good start.

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote: No way Benzema or Higuain will ever move from a team like Real Madrid to Spurs in the prime of their careers. No offense intended either, Spurs are a respectful club, but nowhere near to land those guys. You guys need someone up and coming unproven forward that plays for a smaller (ish) club. Damiao is a good start.

I'd only take offense to that if you're wrong. I completely agree with you, Benzema and Higgy are out of the question.

This is the same reason I'm pretty sure Gomez is out of the question as well. Plus I feel he's valued at Bayern (although if they get Lewa that may change).

If Lewa could finish I'd love to have him but he hardly improves our finishing options

This is why right now I think Damiao is the best, most realistic option. Plus he's got a lot of potential with his age and ability.

Burak Yilmaz would be a great option, although his age could be a problem as he isn't getting any younger. He's a physical specimen, in the Henry mould in that regard (mind you I'm not saying he's as good as Thierry, just that he's physically gifted).

Michu would be a great option off Swansea, although I'm not sure how possible it is to pry him away from Swansea. He's already proven himself in both La Liga and PL and I'm very sure he'd suit any style of play.

Iago Aspas is another really talented player imo. He's a Defoe type player only much, much better. His finishing and technical ability is much superior and he would come for dirt cheap.

Wilfried Bony - basically poor man's Drogba at the moment as he's relatively unproven but he has a high ceiling if used right. Although I haven't seen much of him to critique his abilities.

Other names that come to mind Soldado, Negredo, Lisandro Lopez, Martinez (although deal with Porto is a pain), Benteke, Szalai, Luiz Adriano.

But to be completely honest, I think Damiao might just be the perfect fit.

Also Leo Baptiastao and Mauro Icardi are young as hell but two of my favorite players and future GOATs. Although I don't want Spurs lurking around them.

Thing is- they're all great strikers.

But none of them particularly stand out. None of them are like a "wow!" kind of striker who you know will put the ball in the net with the majority of chances presented to them. That's something both Chelsea and Arsenal lack right now and it shows.

Meanwhile, Man U have one and it shows. Man City have several and that shows (sometimes) too.

It's the one gaping hole in Spurs. It's worth paying big for a player. This is why I think Daimiao as you said, is the perfect fit. Young, big, clinical, has tons of potential, and certainly is on the eyes of many big clubs as a player who could easily sprout into that "wow" striker.

Pay up Levy. Shoulda had it done in January. We can't continue with Bale as our striker, tbh.

EDIT: I like Martinez too but as you said, Porto are hard to deal with. Aspas is very good- not sure if he's the quality player Spurs want though.

Bony would be a good cheaper option, the guy is a beast and would score plenty in the BPL IMO. He is of course more of a long term option.

I'd want him if we didn't have Lukaku.

Sounds too much like the word boner for me.

But seriously, I haven't watched much of him, but I do know he's from the Dutch league. You're always careful of the Dutch league. While classy players like Suarez can come from there after tearing the place apart and do well, you've also got players who have done very well there that just don't quite replicate their form elsewhere.

I mean here's a very recent example: Luuk De Jong scored like 30 goals last season and moved to Munchengladbach. A quick look at his stats, he's only appeared 15 times (injury?), and has scored just 4 times. It's early days yet and perhaps he'll still come good (he's just 22 after all), but you always have just be aware of these things.

But you could say the same for the Brazilian league where Damiao plays, so fair enough, you have to be careful there too.

Damiao's consistent performance over the years there and his international performances have convinced me he is not a one-off though. Although it would be lying if I said I had been watching him- most of my judgement of the guy is on stats and reading. I've seen just a handful of his games and those were international games.

Bony is very much suited to the BPL though.

Could have easily scored 2 or more goals today and came away with a win with a real striker.

Ade never got a chance because well he's f*cking awful.

Defoe did get into two very good goalscoring opportunities and somehow managed to screw both of them up.

Idk what to say anymore. Spurs aren't Spain. We need a striker.

Spurs are one quality striker short of being a really good team, maybe genuine top four contender.

i really dont think higuain is out of the question. just like with vdv, if spurs can clinch a CL spot then its not impossible to sway some quality players.

particularly the out of favor type like higuain- but i think a lot will depend on RMs new coach and what happens with that, but either way one of benz or higgy is likely to go and my guess would be higuain.

The issue with that is money more than anything. How much would Higuain cost?

Spurs NEED CL for both attracting a player like Higuain and the money boost for Levy to start printing out cheque's. I'd be very hard pressed to think Levy is willing to go out and spend in excess of 25+ million euros. Anything over that mark is something that will require a lot of convincing for Levy. Hell anything in the 20-25 million mark will require that. My only consolation with that number is that it seemed Levy was willing to put out that much for Moutinho.

And that's fcking Moutinho we're talking about.

But if Spurs finish in the CL and AVB (presumably) stays on, I can see Levy doing it, but if Higuain is valued at ~30 million euros, I'm not so sure if he's willing to write the cheque.

Also, prestige. Not sure if Higuain would go to Tottenham...

Regardless Higuain going to Tottenham would be...amazing.

what about all that modric money? and higuain was rumored to go to tottenham last summer as well, he was definitely considering offers until mou lied to him that he would be starting more. i dont think it was too far fetched then and i dont think its too far fetched now, if they make CL that is.

and i dont think prestige will be the deciding factor. i think what higuain wants is guaranteed playing time at a CL level club.

if tottenham can offer that i think he would be very interested.

Modric money was used for signings last season. Dembele, Lloris, Dempsey, and I'm sure it made up for the signing of Siggy too even though that was before Modric was sold.

Anyone know how good Gameiro is, from PSG?

RealGunner wrote:Sport.es Claiming Higuain/Arsenal have agreed terms dependent on CL - Otherwise he'll go Spuds.

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Karma....

PLEASE LET'S MAKE THE CL

Ive said this in the chelsea forums, but I feel Wellinton is a good prospect, he plays in the russian league and is very underated. He has excellent pace and is a great finisher, although my final thoughts about him are his link up play, which I'm not really sure about.
Another prospect is Jozy Altidore, and he actually is great at link up play and is scoring goals like crazy up there (though premier league is on another level).
Finally, I was thinking Eden Dzeko, but I doubt hed want to go to spurs.