It’s been just over a week since the Premier League season came to a close, and while there were plenty of ups and downs for Ange Postecoglou, it would probably be fair to describe his first campaign in charge of Tottenham Hotspur as a success.
The Australian dealt relatively well with a plethora of injuries and Harry Kane’s absence to lead the Lillywhites to Europa League qualification, so while he did let the Champions League slip, it wasn’t the worst of debut seasons.
However, with the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea likely to be better next year, Daniel Levy and Co have to back their manager, and luckily for them, a supremely gifted attacker earning ten times less than Son Heung-min reportedly wants to join the club this summer.
Premier League star wants to sign for Spurs
According to a recent report from Tottenham Hotspur news, the Lilywhites are currently in the market for a new number nine and, luckily for them, Brentford’s star striker, Ivan Toney, “would jump at the chance” to join the North Londoners.
This report follows months of reports linking Postecoglou’s side to a number of forwards, including the Englishman.
The report makes no mention of a potential price Levy and Co will have to pay, but previous stories have claimed that his original £100m price tag might’ve fallen as low as £30m-£40m.
If true, this would represent excellent value for a player who was the third top scorer in the Premier League last season and a deal that Spurs simply can’t afford to pass up on.
How Ivan Toney compares to Tottenham’s attackers
So, when looking at how the Englishman would potentially improve the North Londoners attack next season, you can’t really use his statistics from this season.
Indeed, due to his eight-month betting-related football ban, he only returned halfway through the campaign, and while he was able to rack up four goals and two assists in 17 appearances, he was evidently rusty.
Therefore, it makes sense to use numbers from 2022/23, as he was able to play out an entire season for the Bees, in which he scored a seriously impressive 21 goals in 35 games and provided five assists for good measure.
This return of 26 goal involvements in 35 games was substantially better than Richarlison’s seven in 35 games, Dejan Kulusevski’s ten in 37, and even Son’s 20 in 47 games.
| Toney vs Spurs’ attackers in 22/23 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Toney | Richarlison | Kulusevski | Son |
| Appearances | 35 | 35 | 37 | 47 |
| Goals | 21 | 3 | 2 | 14 |
| Assists | 5 | 4 | 8 | 6 |
| Goal Involvements per Match | 0.74 | 0.20 | 0.27 | 0.42 |
| All Stats via Transfermarkt | ||||
In fact, even though the Brentford star has endured an underwhelming return to football this season, he has still had a better previous two years combined than Richarlison and Kulusevski, who have racked up a total of 23 goal involvements in 66 games and 21 goal involvements in 76 games, respectively. Only the South Korean has bettered his two-year output thanks to a brilliant campaign this year.
So, while it’s clear that the former Peterborough “monster”, as described by manager Thomas Frank, would bring more attacking threat to N17, he would also do it for a relatively moderate wage.
In West London, he only earns £20k-per-week, which is almost ten times less than Son’s pay packet of £190k-per-week.
| Spurs top earners | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | Player | Wage |
| 1 | Son Heung-min | £190k-per-week |
| 2 | James Maddison | £170k-per-week |
| 3 | Timo Werner | £165k-per-week |
| 3 | Cristian Romero | £165k-per-week |
| 4 | Dejan Kulusevski | £110k-per-week |
| 5 | Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg | £100k-per-week |
| All Wages via Capology | ||
This means that while he’ll obviously ask for and be given a higher wage at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, he won’t be in a position to demand as much as the club’s other stars, given his lacklustre season and reported desire to join the club.
Ultimately, with his fee coming down so dramatically, his wages being incredibly reasonable, and a two-year return better than the majority of Spurs’ current crop of attackers, signing Toney this summer should be a priority.
