Imagine him & Son: Spurs could land the ideal Richarlison upgrade in £85m “machine”
It was a really up-and-down sort of Premier League season for Tottenham Hotspur this year.
New boss Ange Postecoglou led his team on a ten-game unbeaten streak at the start of the campaign, but a slew of injuries and a general downturn in form saw his side eventually finish in fifth place.
Brazilian striker Richarlison embodied this inconsistency more than any other player in the Australian’s squad, which could cost him this summer.
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Richarlison’s season
The former Everton man came into this season with something to prove after being seriously underwhelming in his first campaign with the club, in which he scored three goals and four assists in 35 games.
Unfortunately, 2023/24 looked like it was set to be much of the same early on. In his first ten Premier League games, the 27-year-old managed a return of just one goal and three assists despite the incredible form of his teammates at the time.
However, a turning point came in early December. After two brief substitute appearances following his return from groin surgery, the Nova Venécia-born forward came back with a bang, and for the first time since his transfer, he was finding the back of the net.
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| Richarlison’s Spurs record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Season | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
| Appearances | 35 | 31 |
| Goals | 3 | 12 |
| Assists | 4 | 4 |
| Goal Involvements per Match | 0.20 | 0.51 |
| All Stats via Transfermarkt | ||
In fact, he scored nine goals in a 12-game run and looked as if he was the in-form striker not just in North London but in the entire league – although it didn’t last.
Two stints out with a knee injury and then a hamstring injury at the end of the campaign limited the 48-capped international to just six more appearances for the rest of the season, in which he failed to score even once.
In all, it’s a hard season to draw too much from, as he looked both brilliant and dreadful at different points. Still, with the Lilywhites looking to press on under Postecoglou, inconsistency isn’t something they can cope with, especially in their striker, and based on recent reports, they might’ve found their replacement.
The dream Richarlison replacement
According to a recent interview with journalist Graeme Bailey, Tottenham Hotspur are very interested in signing Feyenoord’s star striker, Santiago Gimenez, and are now the “favourites” to land him this summer.
Bailey doesn’t suggest a price for the forward, but a report from 90min earlier this year claimed the Dutch side would only sell if they were presented with an offer that matched the Eredivisie record, which was the €100m – £85m – Manchester United paid for Antony a couple of years ago.
It would represent a serious investment from Daniel Levy and Co, but based on his performances this season, one worth making.
For example, in his 45 games for the Rotterdam side last year, he scored 23 goals and provided three assists and this season, he has been even more effective, scoring 26 goals and providing eight assists in 41 games.
This means that the Mexican goal “machine”, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has averaged a goal involvement every 1.43 games over two campaigns, making it hard to deny he’d be an improvement over Richarlison.
| Gimenez’s Feyenoord record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Season | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
| Appearances | 45 | 41 |
| Goals | 23 | 26 |
| Assists | 3 | 8 |
| Goal Involvements per Match | 0.57 | 0.82 |
| All Stats via Transfermarkt | ||
Moreover, the Buenos Aires-born star’s prolific nature would likely see Son Heung-min’s assist numbers skyrocket.
According to Understat, the South Korean international should’ve ended the league campaign with 3.34 more assists than he did.
Such a sizeable underpeformance suggests that he was being let down by his teammates’ lack of clinical finishing, which is where the Feyenoord dynamo could help – as evidenced by his mountain of goals.
Moreover, the fact that the former Cruz Azul gem improved his assist tally this season suggests that he could also turn provider for the Lilywhites captain, perhaps forming a partnership akin to what the 31-year-old had with Harry Kane in the past.
Ultimately, it would be an incredibly costly deal to complete, but with how unreliable Richarlison has been over the last two years and the sheer number of goal involvements Gimenez has produced in the same period, it would be a deal worth pursuing.