Dominic Solanke has not started a single game for Tottenham Hotspur in the 2025/26 Premier League season, and you'd be forgiven for forgetting that he's even appeared in three games this season across league play and the UEFA Super Cup, given he was a substitute in all of them.
A pesky ankle injury that has been slow to heal has held Solanke out of more than 10 games now, and it's the latest ailment the Spurs striker has suffered since joining the club for more than 60 million pounds in the summer 2024 transfer window.
The first truth Tottenham fans must acknowledge is that Solanke hasn't been worth the money to this point. Even his most pious of followers must admit that Solanke has not offered a return on that whopping investment, though his status as a transfer bust is perhaps mitigated by the fact that Richarlison has been worse for about the same amount of money and, more importantly, that Spurs probably would not have won the Europa League without Big Dom up top.
There is a second, more convenient truth, for Tottenham to walk away from the first one. Because even if we acknowledge that Solanke has not been a 65 million pound striker for Spurs and probably will never be that caliber of player, he is still very much one of the two best options that Tottenham have.
Dominic Solanke is better than Richarlison
Tottenham fans have been so eagerly anticipating Solanke's return to health, because Richarlison has been so woeful over the past several weeks. That's put a lot of pressure on Randal Kolo Muani, who is still adjusting from his own physical ailment and making an adjustment in a more general sense to the Premier League.
Spurs aren't sold on anyone at the striker position, and the harsh reality is that even as Solanke has not looked like a world-class striker, Tottenham 100 percent need him. Even if Solanke ends up merely being an average striker, which is the worst realistic case when you consider the theoretical talent that made Spurs spend so much to sign him from Bournemouth in 2024, that would still be a massive upgrade on whatever Richarlison has been doing.
Tottenham don't quite know when Big Dom will be back from this ankle injury, but it should be soon enough. Solanke isn't the end all be all and isn't an elite Premier League striker. But he's what Tottenham need. Those are two truths to live by.