Tottenham Hotspur spent a whopping 65 million pounds on striker Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth in the summer 2024 transfer window to set a new franchise record for the highest fee paid for a player, and while the big man proved to be useful in the crunch time of the Europa League knockouts en route to bringing home the trophy for the first time in over 40 years, it is hard to say that he has provided an adequate return on investment.
Because whereas loan signing Randal Kolo Muani is lighting it up, including three goal contributions against his parent club who just won the Champions League last season, Solanke has literally only appeared in three games off the bench for meager minutes.
Meanwhile, Tottenham fans are totally in the dark as to when the England international will be able to play again, as lingering foot issues led to a delayed surgery in the Fall that the star striker has yet to recover from. And while Frank keeps hinting that Solanke will be back soon, each promise of a near return has been met with radio silence.
Dominic Solanke setback?
In his latest update, Frank told reporters after the 3-0 Tottenham win over Slavia Praha in the Champions League that there has been no injury setback to Dominic Solanke, via the Lilywhite Rose. Now while that is a hugely positive update because all the silence around Solanke has led concerned Spurs fans to speculate that Solanke quietly suffered an injury setback from his procedure, it honestly says a whole lot of nothing.
Because at this point, there has been such a lack of transparency about the nature of Solanke's injury - or even his absence as a whole, given the plodding and almost secretive process of his recovery - that Tottenham fans are not going to buy anything on Solanke until they actually see him on the pitch again. And him not having a setback, again, says nothing about the nature of the injury, the progression of his recovery, or let alone anything resembling a time table for his return.
In the meantime, Spurs fans are already locking in on Kolo Muani and Mathys Tel as the top two striker options, with Richarlison and his goal poaching occasionally mixed in. Solanke is falling further and further out of the equation, and while it is a positive that Solanke is not out for longer with a setback, it isn't really a positive Spurs fans can buy when there's nothing else to go off of.