As Tottenham Hotspur supporters dream of a big new striker signing to upgrade the team and get back into the Champions League places, there are debates raging about who could leave in order to accommodate a new No. 9.
Between Richarlison and Dominic Solanke, many have felt that the latter is the more favored option by Roberto De Zerbi because of his theoretical quality, but after leading the team in Premier League goals and showing a much better work rate, Richy is the odds on favorite among the actual Spurs fans to survive the transfer window.
Richarlison seems more likely to stay than not with a strong preseason, while Solanke continues to struggle for fitness. Solanke was very poor last season and, worst of all, had a huge amount of trouble staying healthy on the pitch.
Richarlison has huge injury concerns, too
But the funny thing about using this as an advantage to prop up Richarlison as the better striker option for Tottenham Hotspur going forward is that the opposite used to be the case. Dominic Solanke was seen as a reliable, healthy striker before he arrived at Tottenham, which is about far for the course, whereas Richy could barely stay healthy and was seen as an even bigger bust than Solanke before the 2025/26 season because he had so many injury issues.
Richarlison missed 40 total games with injury between the Brazil national team and Tottenham in the 2024/25 season and between 15 and 20 matches in the 2023/24 season in all competitions, too. He was relatively healthy at Everton, actually, but since joining Tottenham, Richarlison was one of the most injury prone players in the Premier League. And while he did miss some time last season, it honestly was not much compared to the vast sum of matches he missed in the preceding two campaigns.
That's something Tottenham have to remember when they discuss Richarlison and Solanke as options and weigh which player may be headed out depending on who comes in during the final weeks of transfer negotiations this summer window.
Because even though Solanke was the one who could barely stay in the lineup and be healthy enough to play for the Lilywhites this season, Richarlison had the exact same problem for two years. And Spurs can only hope Richy stays healthy again in 2026/27, because, as of right now, he is the only somewhat respectable goal scoring optino Spurs have in their squad.
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