Tottenham Pursues Mauro Icardi Amid Goal Crisis
Tottenham’s search for a goal has become so desperate that a move for Mauro Icardi, a 33-year-old free agent, is now firmly on the table.
Four Premier League games. Zero goals. A new era under Roberto De Zerbi already under strain.
According to Cronache di Spogliatoio, Spurs are weighing up a short-term deal for the Argentine striker after his departure from Galatasaray, where he enjoyed a prolific spell and collected four Super Lig titles. Icardi, who also won two Ligue 1 crowns with Paris Saint-Germain, is available on a free transfer after ending his four-year stay in Istanbul.
For a club that has just thrown huge money at its attack, the situation is stark.
Big spending, no cutting edge
Tottenham did not enter this season quietly. They spent aggressively, reshaping the squad and sending a clear message that De Zerbi would be backed.
- Sandro Tonali arrived for £100 million.
- Mateus Fernandes cost £85 million.
- Winger Savio came in for another £85 million.
- On top of that, Omar Marmoush joined on loan from Manchester City in a deal that includes a £60 million obligation to buy.
The outlay is enormous. The return so far is not.
Marmoush has started against Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and in the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool. He has shown flashes of why Spurs were prepared to commit so heavily to him, but he is still waiting for his first goal in a Tottenham shirt.
Dominic Solanke has fared no better. Trusted early on, he has gone five games without scoring, unable to provide the cutting edge De Zerbi’s system demands.
And then there is Richarlison. The Brazilian, once expected to shoulder much of the attacking burden, has been frozen out after a major fallout with the club hierarchy. He has not played since the 3-0 opening-day defeat to Brentford and is now completely out of the first-team picture.
It leaves Spurs with an expensively assembled forward line that looks blunt, short on confidence and short on time.
Wage demands and growing competition
Into that vacuum steps Icardi. Or at least, the idea of him.
Tottenham are not alone in exploring the possibility. Journalist Nahuel Ferreira reports that Olympiacos have already made “formal contacts” with the former Argentina international in an attempt to close a deal last week. The Greeks have not yet found an agreement, with Icardi’s wage demands proving a major obstacle.
The striker is reportedly earning around £8.6 million per year, a figure that would force any interested club to think carefully, even with no transfer fee attached.
For Spurs, the calculation is simple but uncomfortable: pay big money for a short-term fix, or persist with a misfiring, but heavily invested, forward line and hope the goals finally arrive.
De Zerbi under early pressure
The table tells its own story. Tottenham sit 17th in the Premier League, with just two points from two draws and two defeats. They have conceded eight goals and scored none.
Their Carabao Cup campaign briefly offered relief. A 5-1 win over Charlton Athletic hinted at fluency and freedom in front of goal. That optimism did not last. A midweek exit to Liverpool underlined the gulf between Spurs and the league’s elite and dragged the focus straight back to their anaemic league form.
De Zerbi was hired to bring bold, attacking football to north London. Right now, his side looks disconnected in the final third, short of ideas and conviction. The pressure is building fast.
That is why Icardi, a veteran poacher with a well-worn scoring instinct, suddenly looks tempting. He is not a project signing. He is not one for the future. He is a plug-in solution for a team that simply cannot put the ball in the net.
Whether Tottenham are willing to meet his salary demands, and whether they can move faster than Olympiacos, will decide if this turns from speculation into a deal.
With the club drifting towards the wrong end of the table and the goals refusing to come, how long can they afford to wait?
