Chatter heating up about Tottenham Hotspur landing a new striker

Whether it is Dusan Vlahovic, Lautaro Martinez, or some third striker whose name has yet to be revealed, it looks like Tottenham is signing a new forward.

In an interesting twist, it is Tottenham who is rumored to be in on another club’s striker and is trying to broker a deal, while the other club tries to hang on to their talisman. Whether it is Fiorentina and the new contract they are offering Vlahovic or Inter Milan trying to keep Martinez after selling Romelo Lukaku or Tottenham trying to keep Harry Kane from Manchester City, it is a dog eat dog world when it comes to transfers. Fortunately for Spurs fans, with new Football Director Fabio Paratici, it seems Tottenham’s dog has a new leash.

Paratici, Tottenham continue to look to Serie A

Tottenham has already signed Pierluigi Gollini and Cristian Romero from Atalanta in Serie A and it seems likely they are going back there for a striker. This should come as no surprise to anyone given the tenure and familiarity Paratici has with that league. The top two targets for Spurs both played a big part in Serie A last season.

Vlahovic was a breakout star last season. Last season, the Serbian exploded after scoring only six goals in the 2019/20 campaign in just under 1700 minutes., in 2020/21 he had 21 goals on over 3,000 minutes. Even more impressive, Vlahovic scored his 21 goals on just 2.65 shots per match, according to infogol.net.

With 45% of his shots on target, Dusan is a very efficient goalscorer fitting in well at Tottenham in the box. However, Vlahovic is not perfect as his ability as a target is near the level of Harry Kane and at only 17 passes per match last season, it was primarily a goal or nothing from Vlahovc – though he did bag three assists.

Vlahovic seems a Kane successor, Martinez seems more a partner

Whereas Vlahovic needs to get the ball in the box to be effective, Lautaro Martinez is a more complete striker who seems a good compliment to Harry Kane or Vlahovic himself. Martinez is tenacious on the pitch often serving as the start of the defense for Inter last season. A willing tackler and ball chaser, Martinez is your more classic second striker.

Not nearly as efficient as Vlahovic, Martinez was 10th in Serie A with 17 goals last season and he added six assists partnering with Lukaku on Inter’s Saccudo winning team. Interestingly, Martinez had the same number of shots on goal as Vlahovic last season – 39 – but took a lot more (109).

One of the differences is that Martinez is a player who likes to shoot from distance. Whereas Vlahovic is a poacher in the box and a monster in the air, Martinez is looking for that opening and letting it rip.

Teams, like Tottenham, want to keep their strikers

Just as Tottenham wants to hang onto Harry Kane, Fiorentina wants to keep Vlahovic and Inter wants to keep Martinez. However, just as Kane may ultimately chase his own desires and leave Tottenham for Manchester City, Vlahovic or Martinez or both may want to chase their fancies in London.

According to reports, Vlahovic’s representatives are meeting with Tottenham on Tuesday. Further, Matt Hayes reported Spurs have already reached an agreement with Inter for Martinez and they just need to find personal terms.

Now Tottenham may not end up getting either player and instead sign a third, unknown striker – not Messi – but it seems quite likely Spurs are getting some help upfront. Whether or not Kane stays, Tottenham needs more depth up front and it should be coming soon, we just do not know which, yet.