Spurs are reportedly keen to strike a transfer deal for a rising star of German football - but would he be enough to save their season?
Given that it took Tottenham Hotspur five games to score a single Premier League goal, it’s not surprising that they appear to have their scouts looking for options ahead of the January transfer window – if their early-season form persists, the need for attacking reinforcements could become quite dire by the time that they can finally add new faces.
New reports suggest that newly-minted Germany international Younes Ebnoutalib is among the players under consideration by Spurs as they prepare for the winter transfer window. But is the Eintracht Frankfurt forward capable of turning an ailing attack around, and how likely is it that Spurs will get a deal done in the coming months?
Spurs monitoring Younes Ebnoutalib – reports
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According to TEAMtalk, Tottenham are “keeping a close eye” on the 23-year-old Ebnoutalib’s progress, and could well make a transfer bid if they end up being as impressed as new Germany manager Jürgen Klopp appears to be.
Klopp handed the striker his first two caps over the opening weekend of the Nations League campaign against the Netherlands and Greece, and although he didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet he has still has a sufficiently impressive domestic scoring record to have attracted some admirers.
Alongside Spurs, both Brighton & Hove Albion and Everton are allegedly keeping tabs on his performances for Frankfurt, suggesting that there could be competition when the time comes to open the bidding.
It’s not clear whether that will be this January or not. Ebnoutalib – who represented Morocco at age group level before switching allegiance to Germany – only moved to Frankfurt from second-tier Elversberg last winter for a reported €10m (£8.6m) and is under contract until 2031. His current employers are unlikely to be in any hurry to cash in, and hold a lot of leverage if any negotiations do get underway.
In short, a side like Spurs would have to pay over the odds in order to get a deal done in the immediate future, and that’s only likely to be a consideration if he continues to score at an impressive rate of knots. That said, they have already demonstrated a willingness to pay extraordinary sums for young players whose profiles they appreciate, as they recently did with the signing of Sávio from Manchester City.
The odds are that Frankfurt resist any attempts to sign Ebnoutalib over the winter, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t be monitored as a potential long-term target – and if he continues his recent form, then they may well be persuaded to spend a lot of money.
Could Ebnoutalib be a difference-maker in the Premier League?
Ebnoutalib’s rise has been startlingly sudden. He was playing in obscurity a short while ago and only moved from non-league to 2.Bundesliga side Elversberg in the summer of 2025, impressing so much, so swiftly, that he found himself in the top flight a mere six months later.
The Frankfurt-born forward scored 12 goals in 17 games for Elversberg and has since scored six in his first 10 appearances for his hometown side, including a hat-trick against Union Berlin in a pulsating 3-3 draw on the opening day of the new Bundesliga season.
Klopp has been so impressed by the youngster’s sudden rise through the ranks that he was called up for Germany’s first two Nations League matches, with the new national team manager singling Ebnoutalib out for gushing praise at a press conference before their first game.
Quick, tall and both a superb dribbler and finisher, Ebnoutalib has not only been putting his chances away at a hugely impressive rate – his four league so far goals this season have come from just 2.85xG’s worth of chances – but is frequently creating them himself with his movement and ball-carrying skills.
To underline how dangerous Ebnoutalib has been with the ball at his feet, every single dribble he has attempted so far this season in the Bundesliga has succeeded. Defenders have been largely powerless to prevent him from getting into threatening positions, and it’s that skill as much as the quality of his shooting which has Premier League teams excited. Strikers who make their own chances are a rare breed.
Ebnoutalib is also physically imposing at 6’3” tall, although he is not actually especially effective in the air as yet, and nor is he a particular precise passer of the ball – his success or failure in the future will depend primarily on how well he continues to develop his goalscoring skills. He isn’t an all-rounder, but seems to be very good indeed at what he does best.
Given how badly Spurs need a natural goalscorer and how poor the service into their strikers has been so far this season, a striker who will be generate and take chances seems like the kind of player they need. He may not be obtainable this winter, but in the long run, it’s easy to see why they have become admirers. Ebnoutalib seems to have a bright future ahead of him.