Savinho has been linked to Tottenham for almost a year now.
Tottenham have been linked with a move to bring Savinho to Hotspur Way for a while; ideally we can roll back to last summer to get an understanding of how much the club likes him and rates him.
But while that transfer did not materialise last summer, the North Londoners are on his case again this time around.
Spurs have been looking to take advantage of Pep Guardiola’s exit in order to pursue his signature this summer, and it looks like that the Lilywhites will surely get their man.
The potential of having him at N17 is a genuine reason to be excited about it, given that the Brazilian is still only 22 years old and has experience in the Champions League alongside his exceptional dribbling capabilities. And additionally, he has a ceiling that he has barely come anywhere near, which gives Spurs a player who can be the face of the club in the years to come.
But let’s be honest, the Lilywhites’ faithful have been burnt before in this hype machine. So before this move gets into an announcement and this ticker tape falls off, we take a look at a few honest reasons why Tottenham supporters will need to be patient with Savinho in his first season donning the Spurs badge.
Why Tottenham fans need to be patient with Savinho
He already has a finishing problem; you don’t need to remind him
While Savinho has an excellent dribbling capacity, he does not match it in front of goal. And you can see that in his numbers in front of goal.
He has scored only six goals for Manchester City in 81 appearances, which he boasts of representing the sky blue. And that sort of return for a player that you’re expecting to be a first choice for a big six side is surely a concern and a half.
If you look at him play, he does quite well to get into shooting position, but then he hesitates to shoot or stops looking for a pass.
Time and again you will see him beat his man and cut inside, but then that final shot is part of the sequence that lets him down time and again.
So, for a Tottenham side that is desperate for goals from their players, our wide players, having a marquee winger who does not convert regularly, means that Tottenham will have to rely on their striker for goals.
So the fans that are expecting him to come in and chip in with 15 goals a season are in line for disappointment.
He has been mismanaged for the past couple of seasons
So the version of Savinho that Tottenham fans have most recently watched is not the real version of Savinho.
Pep has mismanaged him quite badly since he moved to City. The Brazilian only started seven (7) games in the Premier League of a possible 38 games, and his underwhelming performances meant he was omitted from Brazil’s squad for the ongoing World Cup.
So he is a player whose confidence has taken a massive hit in the past couple of seasons because of the start-stop manner of football at a club where he was never given any sense of priority.
So players coming out of that sort of environment generally take some time to rediscover themselves.
And Tottenham have De Zerbi, a manager who boasts a track record of success working with wide players like he did during his time at Brighton. But this sort of rehabilitation takes a while. We may see him be more like the City version of himself for maybe the first half of the season while he finds his footing and confidence again.
The Odobert comparison
Many Tottenham fans have been quite critical of Wilson Odobert since he moved to N17. The wide French forward has barely been appreciated despite his exquisite dribbles, and most of that is because of how the decision-making gets him in the final third. He makes that wrong pass. He shot the wrong shot. Somehow, after all the hard work to get himself in a good position, he finds a way to scuttle it.
And that is exactly what Tottenham are supposedly getting in Savinho.
He drives into the penalty area and then finds a way to make it difficult for himself, and this has been a pattern of his career, be it at Atletico Mineiro, Girona or Manchester City.
At Girona a lot of those flaws were masked because of the extraordinary season he had. He was making high-volume dribbles, and then he was getting space for passes, which meant that his inconsistencies were masked.
But in a high-pressure environment at Tottenham, each of those passes matters. And every wrong impulsive decision will be scrutinised far more harshly than it was at Girona or at Man City.
A misplaced pass in a big moment or a dribble when a shot was the right call or him just keeping the ball for too long when a teammate was in space, the crowds in the English top tier and the newspapers don’t forgive that, especially when these habits are out of a £60 million signing.
But that being said, he does have a very big ceiling but for a while Tottenham fans need to show some patience while he finds his confidence back.