Danny Wright

Wed 13 December 2023 16:10, UK

Tottenham cannot take that win against Newcastle United as a sign that they don’t need to bring in a new striker in the January transfer window.

It would be a cheap, naive and deluded decision by the club to think that they have enough about them to finish in the top four without strengthening that position.

Sure, it was a super display against the Magpies but Eddie Howe’s side hasn’t been the best defensively lately having been beaten 3-0 by Everton before their 4-1 loss at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Richarlison’s return to the starting line-up also helped as he scored two goals to double his Premier League goalscoring tally as a Tottenham player. In all competitions, the Brazilian striker now has seven goals in 49 appearances for the North London club.

But it’s widely known that Spurs need a new striker in January after selling Harry Kane to Bayern Munich in the summer and not replacing him.

It would be fickle to think that after one good goalscoring performance, they don’t need one in, especially after going five games without a win – picking up just one point out of 15 available – before the hammering of Newcastle.

Luckily, it does seem as though Ange Postecoglou has a list of potential targets to solve his striker problem next month with The Mirror reporting on Sunday (10 December) that the Aussie is “optimistic” of bringing one in.

Feyenoord goal machine Santiago Gimenez has been reported to be a “viable” option for Tottenham.

The 22-year-old Mexico international, who was born in the Argentinean capital of Buenos Aires, has scored 18 goals in 15 Eredivisie appearances for Feyenoord this season. That’s six times the number of league goals Richarlison has scored at Spurs in 2023/24 (three).

Gimenez isn’t just performing well in the Eredivisie, which is obviously a league that’s not as strong as the Premier League because in three Champions League group-stage matches, he’s scored two goals, both of which came against Lazio.

He is likely to add to that tally on Wednesday night (13 December) when Feyenoord take on bottom-placed Celtic.

According to stats by FBRef, Gimenez has fired 60 shots at goal this season, which isn’t far behind the 86 he had last season in the Eredivisie. Last term, 33.7 per cent of his shots hit the target, resulting in 15 goals and an xG of 14.7. This season, 48.3 per cent have been on target, resulting in 18 goals and an xG of 14.1.

He’s improved massively on his performances in front of goal from last season, suggesting that at the age of 22, he still has some developing to do.

If Spurs can get him in during January and mould him into a Premier League striker over the course of the rest of this season, they could be looking at someone who’ll easily bag them 20 goals next term and then who knows? He could start meeting the pace Kane was at before he left for Bayern.

Outside of Europe’s top five leagues, there aren’t many better strikers than Gimenez.

He ranks in the 99th percentile over the last 12 months for non-penalty goals (one per 90 minutes), non-penalty xG (0.81 per 90 minutes) and touches in the penalty area (8.36 per 90 minutes).

If Spurs want bargain buys, they need to probably avoid Europe’s top five leagues and start looking at the Eredivisie or further.

Unfortunately, it seems that a deal for Gimenez would probably be a Dutch transfer record with 90min reporting on 27 October that the Rotterdam club wants £87million for their star man.

But it’s likely to be money well spent regardless.

Ex-Liverpool forward Dirk Kuyt has suggested as much, hailing Gimenez’s adaptability and professionalism, as well as saying he still has room to improve.

As quoted by Goal, Kuyt said: “He actually adapted very quickly and did not get upset when he did not play every game in the beginning.

“He listened very carefully to Arne Slot, asking himself, ‘Hey, what does the coach expect from me?’ In possession, players usually know what to do, but he has also become very important for the team when he loses the ball.

“He has developed incredibly well, but there is still a lot more to come.”

Gimenez is currently one of the best centre-forwards in European football.

Yes, he’s scored a lot of goals ahginst the Almeres and Utrechts of Dutch football but he also has those two goals against Lazio that were mentioned, as well as a hat-trick against Ajax and another goal against PSV this season.

He’s absolutely on fire and when compared to Richarlison, it’s an absolute no-brainer on which striker Spurs would rather have playing up front for them right now.

It’s the Mexican goal machine who hails from Argentina.

In other Tottenham news, Spurs should have cash the burn in January despite Ornstein’s update.