View: Santiago Gimenez can do it all as Tottenham send scouts to watch Feyenoord goal machine
Tottenham have been exposed this season for their lack of a natural centre-forward after Harry Kane left North London in the summer to join Bayern Munich.
Although Son Heung-min has, on the whole, done well in the striker role, his failure to score against Sheffield United and Luton Town in the Premier League this season suggests that there’s a way for even the lesser teams to be able to shut down the route to the South Korean ace.
Tottenham need to sign an out-and-out number nine at some point in the next 12 months. Even if it’s just to simply have one in the squad in case there’s an injury or two to Ange Postecoglou’s current options, it’s worth splashing the cash.
It could end up being worthwhile because based on Spurs’ summer business, they’re doing well in the transfer market under Postecoglou.
And it seems the feels are already going out with a view to signing a new centre-forward either in the upcoming January transfer window or next summer with Feyenoord goal machine Santiago Gimenez being linked with a move to North London.
The Sunday Mirror reported on 8 October (page 69) that Spurs have been sending scouts to keep close tabs on the 22-year-old Mexico international, who’s scored 10 goals in seven Eredivisie appearances this season.
The newspaper reported via their print edition that Spurs “believe they may have a new Harry Kane on their radar” with Arsenal, Chelsea, Brighton, Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Frankfurt also eyeing the Rotterdam ace.
The Argentina-born striker joined Feyenoord last summer from Cruz Azul in Mexico but he’s been scoring goals as though he’s been playing in European football his entire career with 33 goals in 53 games for the Dutch club as it stands.
This season, stats by Wyscout show Gimenez has massively outperformed his xG, which has been 5.3. He’s almost doubled that with 10 goals from the 4.32 shots he takes at goal every 90 minutes. 51 per cent of his 29 shots have hit the target and his 41 touches inside the penalty area ranks him third in the Eredivisie.
What’s good about Gimenez is that he’s adaptable and can play a different kind of game against different sides, depending on how much of the ball Feyenoord expect to have.
Below are two heatmaps from Gimenez’s performances in a 3-1 win over Utrecht and a 4-0 win away at Ajax.
It’s clear that despite playing a much deeper role against Ajax, Gimenez is capable of getting on the scoresheet while also finding himself crucial in Feyenoord’s build-up play by completing all 11 of his passes and setting up three shots for his teammates.
But the performance against Utrecht was much more like a nine number in the opposition penalty area, feeding off chances and peppering the goal with shots.
It’s clear to see how Gimenez likes to drop deep and get involved in the attacking phases of play in his first goal against Ajax on 27 September.
In the above image, Gimenez is clearly seen a few yards after from the halfway line picking up a pass from the Feyenoord defence.
He spots the run from Quinten Timber to his left and plays a first-time pass to the marauding Dutch midfielder.
After a great bit of pace and strength by Timber, he manages to look up and find Gimenez already rampaging back into the Ajax penalty area.
Gimenez then finishes brilliantly by beating Jay Gorter at his near post by powering a shot into an area a goalkeeper really doesn’t want it, just to the side of his head.
Gimenez looks like the complete package despite being only 22 years old.
He’s adaptable to playing against a different quality of opposition, he’s fast, he’s got an eye for a pass and he’s absolutely lethal when shooting at goal.
It seems like a no-brainer for Tottenham to try and sign the Buenos Aires-born Mexico striker at some point either in January or the summer but they’ll clearly face a lot of competition.
Spurs could promise a guaranteed spot as a starting striker because although Son has done well there this season, we all know that he can perform well off a striker as he had done with Kane for so many years.
Son is 31 now but it’s not too late for him to forge a new partnership.
In other Tottenham news, Postecoglou has named two Under-21 stars who have “really stood out“.