Does Roberto Soldado Have A Future At Tottenham?

Does Roberto Soldado have a future at Tottenham? Along with a number of other players at Spurs, Soldado’s long-term future at White Hart Lane must be in doubt.

Roberto Soldado signed for Tottenham in the summer of 2013 having scored 114 goals in 5 seasons in La Liga for Valencia and his former club, Getafe. With such a proven goalscoring record, having scored 20 plus goals in each of the previous 4 seasons, great things were expected of Soldado at White Hart Lane.

Roberto Soldado Stats at Tottenham

2013-14:  App.  36*  Goals:  Lge:  6  EL:  5
2014-15:  App.  6*  Goals:  LC: 1  EL:  1
(* All Competitions including substitute app.)

Roberto Soldado scored 6 goals in the Premier League last season – 4 were penalties, only 2 came from open play, at Aston Villa in October and in the 1 – 0 home win over Cardiff City last March.

Andre Villas-Boas persisted with Soldado as a lone striker in the first 5 months of last season, even though the system wasn’t working and Soldado wasn’t scoring. He became an isolated figure in the Spurs team with such limited service from midfield that he spent more time outside the penalty area looking for the ball or wide on the wing delivering crosses into the box rather than being in the penalty area looking to convert chances into goals which was his forte in Spain.

The appointment of Tim Sherwood, looked to have given Soldado a striking partner in Emmanuel Adebayor. After positive initial displays, however, Sherwood returned to the lone striker option and Soldado was side-lined. Towards the end of the season, Harry Kane was given his chance and did what Soldado had failed to do by scoring 3 goals in his first 3 appearances.

Last season there were occasional glimpses of the skill of Roberto Soldado. His link up and delivery of a cross to the far post for Adebayor to score his first league goal at Southampton last December was superb. In the same match, however, he missed clear scoring opportunities which unfortunately was the story of his season.

Like the majority of the summer of 2013 signings, Roberto Soldado had a disappointing first season at White Hart Lane. The club decided to retain all of the players into the new season in the hope that under new Head Coach, Mauricio Pochettino, they would come good and show their true form.

2014-15 Season

The new season brought a new start under a new manager for Soldado but it has brought little change. Twelve matches into the 2014-15 season, Soldado has had little opportunity to show that he can fit into Pochettino’s style of play. He has played only 323 minutes, starting just 3 games but none in the Premier League. Emmanuel Adebayor is first choice and Harry Kane has been used as a substitute ahead of the Spanish striker.

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Again, in a system which provides little service to the striker in the penalty area, Soldado has had 3 strikes at goal. His instinctive strike against Forest in the Cup was a reminder of what he can do in the penalty area and his turn and run against Besiktas to create an opening for Nabil Bentaleb was another glimpse of the real Roberto Soldado. Unfortunately, they are once again isolated incidents.

With little playing time, Roberto Soldado looks like having another frustrating season at Tottenham, restricted, it would seem, to the midweek Europa League and Cup games.

There has been media speculation of Spurs looking to sign a striker in the January transfer window and if this were to happen, does Soldado have a future at Tottenham?

What do you think?

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