A reliable striker must remain Tottenham’s priority

Article by e-Spurs' Joe Fish

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This week saw Mauricio Pochettino make his opening play in the transfer market as he began his pursuit of Swansea City’s Ben Davies.

Rumours come and go like Tottenham managers throughout the summer window, but Spurs links to Davies appear to be more than mere speculation, with several sources claiming that we had even agreed a fee for him before Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins decided to up his asking price.

The Welsh international has taken to the Premier League like a Swan to water since debuting in August 2012 and, at 21 years of age, will only get better.

Pochettino apparently feels that Davies, more cultural and defensively aware than the untamed Danny Rose, would be a safer option as first-choice left-back.

While Davies’ maturity and consistency have impressed scouts at home and abroad – Atletico Madrid were once credited with an interest – there is enough potential in the hungry and physical Rose, whose bright start to last season was quickly forgotten following several costly errors after his return from injury, to have persisted with him for another campaign, particularly when there are other areas of the squad which need addressing more urgently.

An Argentina centre-half in his playing days, Pochettino seems to favour the more reliable Davies, but this reliability is as much needed at the opposite end of the pitch.

Tottenham’s three-man striking unit has no certainties about it whatsoever, with each of them unable to be depended on for goals for different reasons.

Harry Kane finished last season brightly after being given a chance under Tim Sherwood, and is expected to be kept in the first-team fold by Pochettino, who reportedly tried to sign him on loan for Southampton in January.

Three goals in six starts is promising, but nothing more, and although I would be comfortable with 20-year-old Kane being third choice, I would not want him leading the line regularly at this stage.

Kane’s tally of strikes is one more than £26m signing Roberto Soldado managed from open play, with firstly poor service and then a crisis of confidence responsible for him failing to repeat his prolific La Liga form.

With a record of 101 goals in 207 games over a period of eight seasons in Spain, it would not be a major surprise if Soldado found the net with more familiar frequency playing in Pochettino’s attacking system, but, as of now, he is as unproven at the top level of English football as Kane is.

And for all of Emmanuel Adebayor’s qualities, reliability is not one of them. The hit-and-miss frontman can be one of the Premier League’s best when he puts his mind to it, but nobody is ever quite sure when or for how long that he will.

With a new demanding, disciplinarian of a manager in charge, and a fresh regime for Adebayor to adapt to, the odds of him going through the whole campaign on exemplary behaviour are alarmingly low.

That is why that Tottenham’s priority must be to invest in a striker that can be trusted to score the goals to fire them into top-four contention, and noises from White Hart Lane suggests that Pochettino may be thinking along similar lines.

Reports claim that he is happy to part with both Adebayor and Soldado, providing that he can identify replacements and arduous negotiator Daniel Levy is content with the deals that see them leave.

Chelsea outcast Romelu Lukaku has been tipped as a top target and fulfils the brief perfectly, possessing many of the same positive attributes as Adebayor, while coming without the baggage.

Returns of 17 and 15 goals during two season-long loan spells, in both of which he has started less than 30 league games, have alerted several clubs who want to take advantage of the strange lack of faith in him at Stamford Bridge.

Considering the fees being spent in the North West already this summer, £20m would be a more than reasonable price to pay for a 21-year-old, who, like Davies, can only improve.

Speaking of the North West, another marksman on the Spurs radar is believed to be Manchester United’s under-appreciated poacher Javier Hernandez.

The Mexican has a scoring record of a goal in every 1.3 Premier League starts, and is finally thought to be tiring of his lack of opportunities at Old Trafford.

Should Pochettino be able to persuade him that his chances of starting would significantly increase at Tottenham, we could snare a one of the deadliest finishers in the division for a minimal outlay.

The who, when and how much of it are up for discussion, but Spurs need to make sure that they start the season with a more reliable strike force than they have had in recent years.

Goals win games, and we have not had enough from our forwards in some time.

Would you swap Adebayor and Soldado for Lukaku and Hernandez? I would.

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