There are going to be a lot of position battles throughout the 2026/27 Premier League season for Tottenham Hotspur after such an active summer 2026 transfer window that has brought in both more depth and quality to Roberto De Zerbi's squad. But the most immediate and most intriguing transfer battle, which could result in a sale in a matter of days, is the one at striker between Dominic Solanke and Richarlison.
Despite De Zerbi admitting publicly on multiple occasions that he is still a huge fan of Solanke's despite the public perception that he is a huge transfer bust, Richarilson entered the 2026/27 campaign as the favorite to keep his spot after leading the team last season with 11 Premier League goals while also being a lot more available than Solanke was.
But despite leading Spurs in goals, Richy was far from convincing last season, and on Matchday 1 in a 3-0 blowout loss to Brentford, the Brazilian international was infuriatingly terrible and reminded everyone why Spurs have been trying to sell him for multiple summer transfer windows.
Dominic Solanke has the hold up play Roberto De Zerbi wants
Richarlison offered no goal scoring threat, created zero chances, and was atrocious on the ball. Worse yet, he did that thing again where he stumbled over the ball and just gave up possession immediately instead of holding it up, leaving the struggling Conor Gallagher and Lucas Bergvall for dead in the middle of the park.
Meanwhile, Dominic Solanke took advantage and responded big time on Wednesday night in the League Cup against Charlton Athletic. He scored and had a great all around game, creating chances, holding the ball up, and helping Spurs get a huge win.
Solanke played exactly the way Roberto De Zerbi has described his strengths, and while, yes, it was against much worse opposition, Solanke was locked in, and Tottenham are starting to have no choice here if it comes to picking one player or the other.
Because if Spurs are able to sign Cody Gakpo from Liverpool, which relies a lot on the Reds signing someone like Bradley Barcola and then being willing to sell the Dutch international to Spurs, then there won't be room for both Solanke and Richarlison. And in terms of what they are offering and what De Zerbi wants, Solanke looked a lot more equipped on the ball to help Spurs than Richarlison did in his disaster class in the middle against Brentford on Matchday 1.
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