Tottenham Seek Icardi as Goal Crisis Deepens Under De Zerbi
Tottenham’s season has barely begun, yet the alarm bells are already ringing. Four Premier League games, zero goals. A new era under Roberto De Zerbi has opened with a blunt edge, and Spurs are now looking at a name few expected to see on their shortlist: Mauro Icardi.
Reports from Cronache di Spogliatoio say the 33-year-old Argentine has emerged as a serious short-term option as the club scrambles for a solution in attack. Icardi is a free agent after ending a four-year spell with Galatasaray, where he plundered goals in the Super Lig and rebuilt his reputation as a penalty-box predator.
For a side that cannot buy a league goal, the appeal is obvious.
Big money, no goals
What makes the Icardi interest so stark is how much Tottenham have already spent trying to avoid exactly this situation.
This summer, the club threw huge money at their rebuild. Sandro Tonali arrived for £100 million. Mateus Fernandes cost £85 million. Another £85 million went on winger Savio. On top of that, Spurs brought in Omar Marmoush from Manchester City on loan, with a £60 million obligation to buy built into the deal.
The return so far? Very little where it matters most.
Marmoush has led the line in the league against Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and in the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool. There have been flashes of promise, moments where his movement and touch hinted at something more. But the scoreboard remains stubborn: no goals.
Dominic Solanke has not fared any better. Trusted early on, he has gone five appearances without finding the net, his place in the side increasingly hard to justify on output alone.
And then there is Richarlison. Once expected to shoulder a major share of the attacking burden, the Brazilian has been frozen out after a major fallout with the club. He has not played since the bruising 3-0 opening-day loss to Brentford and is no longer part of the first-team picture.
A forward line expensively rebuilt now looks toothless, fractured and short on confidence. No wonder Icardi’s name has landed on the table.
Icardi’s options – and his price
Tottenham, though, are not alone in circling.
Journalist Nahuel Ferreira reports that Olympiacos have already made “formal contacts” with Icardi’s camp in an effort to close a deal last week. The Greek giants see the former Argentina international as a marquee signing, but talks have yet to produce an agreement.
The sticking point is money. Icardi is understood to be on wages in the region of £8.6 million per year, a significant commitment for any club weighing up a short-term fix.
His CV is not in doubt. Icardi has lifted two Ligue 1 titles with Paris Saint-Germain and four Super Lig crowns with Galatasaray. He has lived his career inside the penalty area, thriving in teams built to feed him chances. For a side like Spurs, currently starved of cutting edge, that profile is tempting.
The question is whether Tottenham are willing to take on the financial burden for a 33-year-old when they have already sunk vast sums into their attack.
De Zerbi under strain
The pressure on De Zerbi is growing with every blank.
Tottenham sit 17th in the Premier League table, with just two points from their opening four matches. Two draws, two defeats, eight goals conceded, none scored. The numbers paint a bleak picture of a side that looks disjointed and unsure of itself in the final third.
There was a brief flicker of optimism in the Carabao Cup. A 5-1 win over Charlton Athletic suggested the attacking patterns were starting to click, that the goals might soon follow in the league.
Liverpool quickly shattered that illusion. Spurs were knocked out in midweek, and the defeat underlined just how far they still are from the division’s elite. The gulf in conviction, cohesion and ruthlessness was hard to ignore.
De Zerbi now faces a brutal reality: either he finds a way to make his expensively assembled forwards function, or he leans on the market again and brings in a specialist finisher like Icardi.
Tottenham wanted this season to be a statement of a new direction. Instead, they are staring at the oldest question in football: when nothing is going in, how desperate are you prepared to be to sign a striker who lives for goals?
