This summer, Tottenham Hotspur finally filled that back-up striker spot, though might have they signed the wrong man?
What was the word?
Last January, Spurs were heavily linked with a move for Real Sociedad striker Willian Jose, as per Sky Sports, after Jose Mourinho was left without a recognised no.9 thanks to injuries suffered to Harry Kane and Heung-min Son.
They signed nobody and paid for it.
Reports of their interest then surfaced again back in September as the Special One made demands to Daniel Levy for a new centre-forward.
The £21.6m-rated Brazilian, who earns just €58k-per-week (£52k-per-week) in La Liga, put in a masterclass at the weekend – perhaps the north Londoners got it badly wrong?
One that got away?
The 28-year-old has been a prolific marksman in the Spanish top-flight for several seasons now – he hasn’t scored below 11 goals in any of the last four campaigns with a career-best of 15 goals and four assists coming in 2017/18, per WhoScored.
On Sunday afternoon, he finally kickstarted the current season with a brace, helping La Real romp to a 4-1 away victory at Celta Vigo – the win took them top of the table, too.
Willian Jose bagged a double in the second half and also recorded three shots, one dribble and seven accurate crosses. He also made 76% of his passing attempts and won five of eight duels.
SofaScore also graded him the Man of the Match by quite some distance with a rating of 8.8, the next best being substitute Portu with an 8.1 and David Silva with a 7.7 in the number ten role.
Meanwhile, in north London, it was the curious case of Carlos Vinicius’ absence. He wasn’t named in a Premier League matchday squad for the second time, and it came just a few days after being hauled off at half-time in the Europa League.
Given Mourinho’s scathing attack on the four players that were hooked post-game, it would be fair to suggest that he’s not been impressed by what he’s seen so far.
Speaking to Sky Sports two years ago, Terry Gibson claimed that Willian Jose is a perfect fit for the English game, he said:
“Willian Jose is the type of striker who could flourish in the Premier League. He’s been linked with Premier League clubs in the past. He’s physical, very fast, is improving season-by-season and is now an accomplished centre forward.”
A combination of pace, power and the ability to find the back of the next on a regular basis – it certainly sounds like a certain Didier Drogba in terms of the profile of striker Mourinho longs for.
Perhaps the club got it wrong on this one, especially when only €20m (£18m) could’ve been enough to secure him.
If this situation over Vinicius begins to develop further as the season goes on, then you’d imagine it could be a decision that Mourinho long regrets.
AND in other news, Forget Gareth Bale: £45m-rated dynamo was Spurs’ true match-winner on Sunday…