£300m Spent, No Goals: Spurs Leave De Zerbi High and Dry Without a No 9
Tottenham’s transfer trolley was overflowing this summer, but somehow the one item they needed most never made it to the checkout. Four Premier League matches gone, not a single goal to show for a £300m outlay, and Roberto De Zerbi is trying to play heavy-metal football with a muted guitar. It’s early, yes, but 18th place with two points is a nasty look for a club that promised fireworks.
Big spend, little bite
Spurs strengthened virtually everywhere – Sandro Tonali (£92.5m), Mateus Fernandes (£85m), Savio (£75m), Jan Paul van Hecke (£52m) – but not where it mattered most. No out-and-out No 9. You can dress it up how you like, but goals win games and Spurs are starved. A 3-0 humbling at Brentford, a 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle, and then goalless stalemates with Nottingham Forest and Everton tell the story. Even the 5-1 EFL Cup blitz of Charlton, with five different scorers, felt more like a sugar rush than a cure.
Marmoush miscast, Solanke stuttering, wingers without end
Dominic Solanke was bought to be a focal point and looked the part at first, but the injury niggles won’t go away and there’s scant proof he can haul Spurs to where they want to be. Behind him is a carousel of wide-men – Mathys Tel, Mohammed Kudus, Savio – all talented, all more creators than killers. Richarlison? Exiled after a summer with no takers. That leaves Omar Marmoush, the loanee with a £60m obligation and gaudy Eintracht Frankfurt numbers (33 goal contributions in 26). There, he thrived in a fluid front two; here, he’s been shunted left and neutered. Against Everton he mustered one shot, lost the ball 11 times and, frankly, looked like a square peg – the Standard handed him a withering 4/10.
De Zerbi’s blueprint needs a battering ram
De Zerbi’s track record is clear: give him under-sung forwards and he’ll squeeze out goals. Evan Ferguson caught fire under him at Brighton; Joao Pedro and Danny Welbeck enjoyed purple patches; at Marseille, he coaxed a scoring season out of a 35-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. What he’s never had is the classic back-to-goal target to build around – and that’s exactly what this Spurs side is crying out for. Someone to pin centre-backs, make it stick, and buy the No 8s a precious couple of seconds to arrive. Solanke can do parts of it; Marmoush isn’t that player, and using him wide only underlines the void.
Striker shortlist: unsexy but effective
Here’s the uncomfortable reality: in today’s market, Spurs are shopping a shelf below the elite. Julian Alvarez? Off limits. The likes of the Pedros and Hugo Ekitiké have been hoovered up by shinier projects. So Tottenham must zig while others zag. Brian Brobbey and Jean-Philippe Mateta won’t win the window on social media, but they might win you points on a wet Wednesday. Brobbey spent Saturday night bullying centre-halves like Gabriel and Ezri Konsa – powerful, awkward and tailor-made to occupy two defenders while others join in. Mateta is plug-and-play: Premier League-proven, a handful aerially and on the turn, and he’s already flirted with the exit at Palace.
If they fancy a punt with upside, Strasbourg’s Joaquin Panichelli – 16 in 27 in Ligue 1 last term – looks the profile: big, robust, and still cheap enough to be a bet rather than a gamble. None of this is glamorous, and that’s the point. In a striker market this thin, the edge comes from moving early on the right profile, not late on the famous name.
The numbers don’t lie
Look at the current cast. Richarlison’s career haul is healthy (118 with 75 in the Prem, 32 for Spurs) but he’s out of the picture. Solanke sits on 108 career, 41 in the league, 23 for Spurs – decent, not decisive. Marmoush is at 83 career goals, 10 in the Prem, none yet in a Tottenham shirt. For a club with top-four ambitions, that reads more like a patchwork than a plan.
Ownership and recruitment: ENIC’s blind spot
This was the summer ENIC finally opened the taps after years of Levy-era frugality, and yet the one glaring job – replace Harry Kane with a proper No 9 – was left undone. The football is brave, the coaching elite, but even De Zerbi can’t alchemise goals out of a structure that doesn’t provide a reference point up top. Keep ignoring it and the pressure cooker will whistle. You can already hear the discontent rumbling around the South Stand.
And if you’re peeking at the so-called sack race, the best betting sites will have their view on who’s feeling the heat. With four games gone and zero league goals, those odds shorten by the week if Spurs don’t address the obvious.
What must happen next
Cut to the chase: sign a centre-forward who enjoys the ugly stuff. Someone to battle, bring others into play and finish the easy ones. If it’s Brobbey or Mateta, fine. If it’s Panichelli, get in early. Just stop pretending that a rotating cast of wide forwards can paper over the biggest crack in the building. De Zerbi’s system is primed to hum – but without a true No 9, Spurs will keep playing pretty patterns around the edge of the box while the table gets uglier.
