Now that Spurs have added to their options in defence and central midfield, the next task is to refresh the attack. Last season, Spurs suffered from the loss of their two main contributors going forwards – James Maddison and Son Heung Min.

What we lost

As a winger Son added goal threat and chance creation.

And backing him up in the number 10 position was Maddison, who suffered a season ending injury before his campaign had even begun.

The Spurs midfielder has an amazingly balanced profile, contributing strongly in all areas, particularly creatively. Looking at his radar chart it’s not hard to see why Tottenham struggled to replace him.

What we have

Spurs were left with mainly young prospects like Odobert, Bergvall and Tel. It was always a tough ask.

Odobert profiles as a transition carrier. He has high dribbling and goal threat but doesn’t contribute much to pressing or chance creation.

Bergvall is stuck somewhere between attacking midfield and a deeper role. His dribbling success hints at his potential, but he isn’t a Maddison replacement, with little contribution to creating or scoring goals.

Tel is the most impressive of the three, particularly when you compare his numbers with those from the previous campaign. He made huge strides forward, and looks like an option worth persevering with. However his output is still the issue, with mediocre chance creation and finishing.

The two best current candidates

Xavi Simons, who joined later in the season, is the nearest we have to a true number 10.

He’s strong in chance creation, and passing numbers, along with elite pressing but he’s missing a box presence. He prefers to do his work in deeper areas. After his unfortunate injury, he won’t be an option until later in the year.

Mohamed Kudus was one of the few bright spots last season.

He is a top tier dribbler, and his carrying and crossing is also good. The problem is the end product, with little in the way of goal threat and only average chance creation. He is also one of the most turnover-prone players in the league. He takes risks, and that has a cost.

Of course last year Frank put him in unfavourable positions and asked him to work miracles. We have yet to see him in De Zerbi’s system, and there is hope for improvement in a tactical setup that should be more suited to getting wingers in good attacking areas.

Number 10 or winger?

if we are looking for a number 10, Morgan Gibbs-White is an obvious shout. He added more goal threat to his game last season, so would be a good complementary alternative to Xavi. However, given we have Maddison back, and hopefully Xavi will be also be an option later in the year, left wing is the most pressing position to fill.

Other options on the wing include Yakuba Minteh (he’s more right sided and similar to Kudus) or Kevin (he profiles almost identically to Tel).

Savinho

Savinho was heavily linked to Spurs last transfer window, and the rumours are even stronger this summer. But is he the right fit?

If we look at his 2025/26 numbers it appears not. But his season was affected by injury, being used out of position, and finding himself behind new Manchester City addition Jeremy Doku, a league standout.

If we instead look back at the previous year the picture is a lot rosier. He’s the closest match I could find from current Premier League players to the missing profile. He’s in the 93rd percentile for chance creation, 95th for pass threat, 98th for movement, 90th for box presence, all combined with 93rd-percentile dribbling with much higher ball security than Kudus.

His finishing maybe leaves a little to be desired but overall he looks like a great option. The risk is can he recapture this form?

In my mind there are sufficient mitigating factors to explain last season’s drop off. Of course this drop off is one reason Manchester City are willing to sell, and why the price is not completely crazy.

So what should Spurs do?

For me it’s not even close, Savinho is a gamble worth taking and Spurs should do what it takes to bring the Brazilian to the Tottenham Stadium.

Note: My analysis is limited to Premier League players. It may well be that we can find better, cheaper options elsewhere, but Spurs do seem to have focused their new recruitment strategy on the English top flight.

Do you think Savinho is a good transfer target for Spurs?