Roberto De Zerbi has no doubt Dominic Solanke will rediscover his best levels as the head coach made clear he had left no stone unturned in the mission to solve Tottenham’s goalscoring problem. Spurs go to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday after the 0-0 home draw with Everton in the Premier League on Saturday; they have not found the net in their four matches in the competition. Tottenham did beat Charlton 5-1 at home in the second round of the Carabao Cup.
Solanke is the only forward in De Zerbi’s squad to have enjoyed a prolific season in England’s top division; he scored 19 times for Bournemouth in 2023-24, which convinced Tottenham to pay £55m for him. The 29-year-old has 22 additional goals in the Premier League, 12 of them for Spurs. De Zerbi has Omar Marmoush, who scored seven times in the league for Manchester City in the second half of 2024-25 after joining from Eintracht Frankfurt in January.
That apart, the pickings for De Zerbi’s attacking players have been slim in the competition. Solanke, whose pre-season was undermined by an injury sustained on the club’s tour of New Zealand and Australia, was ineffective against Everton and a target for criticism is some quarters. De Zerbi will keep the faith.
He remembers being amazed at how well Solanke played for Bournemouth against his Brighton team in September 2023. Brighton won 3-1 but Solanke scored. De Zerbi knows that when Solanke is fully fit the goals and performances will follow.
He intends to involve the former Liverpool striker at Anfield, whether from the start or as a substitute. I believe he can score 10-15 goals, for sure. He’s already scored in Bournemouth so why not he can score in Tottenham?
Sensitive guys are smart. Maybe [he has had] many injuries, maybe he doesn’t feel in the best physical condition, maybe he would like to do something different on the pitch. But now he’s not fit yet.
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