It may be that Tottenham's links with a move to sign Folarin Balogun mean they may have missed out on one of their top attacking targets. That's according to football.london's Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold.
Spurs got some excellent business done early in the summer transfer window, bringing in six new signings in defensive and midfield positions.
But the Lilywhites have not signed a player for five-and-a-half weeks, with Sandro Tonali the last player through the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium entrance door on July 6. That is despite the club being in desperate need of attacking reinforcements.
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Having got work done early in the window in strengthening the defence and the midfield, it was expected that Roberto De Zerbi would get to work on adding forward players to his squad.
Tottenham's new signings for 2026/27
But, for whatever reason, that has not happened so far and with just a week-and-a-half to go until the new Premier League season starts, and now less than three weeks of the transfer window to go, Spurs are in desperate need of at least one new signing up front.
Dominic Solanke spent a lot of the 2025/26 season injured and has barely played in pre-season. Mohammed Kudus and Dejan Kulusevski are working their way back to fitness following long spells out, while Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert will not be seen for the first few months of the campaign due to ACL injuries.
When will Tottenham announce their 'bomba' signing?
Head coach Roberto De Zerbi knows he is light in forward areas and has been working, behind the scenes, with chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director John Lange to get more deals over the line. The Italian said on the club's pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia that a new signing was close, but confirmation of a done deal has not been announced.
De Zerbi said: "The transfer market, it's not finished for sure. We have completed 60% of our project in the transfer market. Now we have another bomba."
When asked if the "bomba" was close to being completed, De Zerbi said:
"I hope, but it's not finished, for sure."
Tottenham have been linked with a number of players in forward areas, with Savinho looking the most likely to sign. Spurs have been in talks with Manchester City for a number of weeks now over signing the Brazilian, but it has yet to be completed. They came close to tying up a deal last summer, only for the rug to be pulled on the deal at the last moment.
De Zerbi did admit that the "bomba" signing was in addition to Savinho though, suggesting there was someone else close to joining the club.
Forwards linked with Spurs this summer:
Savinho
Victor Osimhen
Cody Gakpo
Folarin Balogun
Dusan Vlahovic
Antonio Nusa
Andreas Schjelderup
Nicolo Tresoldi
Malick Fofana
Said El Mala
It is those links with Balogun that have led respected Spurs journalist Gold to think that another deal might have fallen through. According to l'Equipe, Spurs are accelerating with plans to make a £52million move for the former Arsenal striker, despite not being interested in him earlier in the window.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said: "Folarin Balogun, he's an interesting one because there were a lot of links with him in the World Cup to Spurs and I was told at that point that there was zero interest in him then, which leads me to believe that if there is anything in these current links to to Balogun that that might mean that Spurs have discovered that one or another of their first choice attacking targets is unattainable.
"If it is the case that they are actually going for him now, because like I said, I was told during the World Cup there was zero interest. During the World Cup there was no interest which means that if they were to change things and go after him now, that would suggest that something hasn't happened elsewhere, that he was not their first choice."