Can he match the lofty heights of Vincent Janssen?
Tottenham have agreed a deal to sign Carlos Vinicius from Benfica, according to transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, with an announcement to be made in the coming days.
The striker will join Spurs on loan before signing a deal keeping him at the club until 2025, if Tottenham decide to exercise their option to buy him outright.
Carlos Vinicius is joining Tottenham on loan [€3m] with buy option and he’ll also sign a contract until 2025, if Spurs will buy him on a permanent deal on next summer.
Skriniar deal is now stalling.As @AlasdairGold reported, Vinicius has been approved also by Mourinho ⚪️ #THFC
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 1, 2020
Vinicius will occupy a place in the Spurs’ squad as back-up to Harry Kane, sometimes maybe playing alongside him, but mostly deputising for him and playing in the Europa League, one would assume.
It is a squad position that has proven difficult for Spurs to fill ever since Kane became outright first choice in the 2014/15 season.
First it was Vincent Janssen, who joined in 2016 – before that, Son or Chadli would fill in if Kane couldn’t play – but Janssen’s time at Spurs was a disaster. He scored six goals in total for Spurs, all of them coming in his first of three seasons, and four of them coming in domestic cup competitions. His penalty against Millwall was almost greeted with pity rather than celebration.
Then came Fernando Llorente, who scored just 13 goals across two seasons for Spurs, but did step up in the big moments when Kane was absent, so in the most important sense, served his purpose. He could hardly move but his part in getting Spurs to the Champions League final will never be forgotten.
After Llorente, the position has not been filled. Lucas Moura played a large chunk of last season up front, Dele Alli has been tried there, Son is capable of playing there but much better on the left.
The problem with signing a player to be a back up to Kane is trying to convince them they’ll get any game time. Footballers believe in their own ability but they’re not stupid, they know they’re not going to remove Kane from the starting line up.
But after several ludicrous rumours linking Tottenham to Christian Benteke and Alexander Sorloth, they appear to have found their man. Is he any good? I honestly couldn’t tell you. But he’s six foot three inches tall, and that’s good enough for Mourinho.
