£60m Spurs target is in a different league to Savinho

2025 was a summer in which Tottenham Hotspur were linked with a raft of attacking targets, albeit while notably missing out on the likes of Eberechi Eze, Bryan Mbeumo and Antoine Semenyo.

Thomas Frank even admitted that Semenyo had been a target for the club, prior to the Ghanaian ultimately joining Manchester City in January, following a fine spell on the south coast.

That deal, ironically, might well have paved the way for Spurs to snap up another target of last year, in the form of Savinho, with the Brazilian sliding down the pecking order at the Etihad last season.

City, by all accounts, still want a replacement before sanctioning the sale of the 22-year-old, although he could be the next arrival in north London to bolster Roberto De Zerbi‘s side.

How Savinho compares to Europe’s best wingers

There’s no denying that it was a difficult 2025/26 campaign for Savinho, the ex-Girona man restricted to just seven Premier League starts, while scoring and assisting just twice.

The South American speedster failed to create a single big chance and missed six ‘big chances’ of his own, with the year prior notably seeing him register eight assists and create 11 ‘big chances’ in his debut season in Manchester.

If looking back to that 2024/25 campaign, where he featured far more heavily, Savinho did showcase flashes of what he’s all about, particularly in terms of chance creation and ball progression.

Indeed, he ranked in the top 6% of wingers in Europe’s big five leagues for big chances created in open play that year, as well as in the top 2% for shot-ending carries per 90.

The youngster also ranked in the top 2% for progressive carries, the top 3% for productive dribbles and the top 9% for successful dribbles completed, essentially highlighting how he was right at the heart of dragging City forward that year.

It is that form, alongside his 19 goals and assists in LaLiga in 2023/24, that Spurs are seemingly banking on, with last term alone offering little to suggest he could instantly hit the ground running under De Zerbi’s watch.

An undoubted talent he may be, the Lilywhites may also be worth considering making a bigger splash in the coming weeks.

Why Spurs could still sign £60m star instead of Savinho

The indication is that Savinho wants to leave Man City and join Spurs, with the north London side having maintained their interest from last year. Should be simple, right?

Well, as per TEAMtalk, there has yet to be an agreement reached between the two clubs, with Tottenham setting a deadline of 1 August for a deal to be struck, as City seek out a potential replacement.

In the event this move cannot proceed, the suggestion is that interest could be ‘accelerated’ in rival targets, with Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo among those named.

The Dutchman has been noted as a potential option for ENIC throughout the summer, amid talk that he could leave Anfield for a fee of around £60m.

That price tag could well be a steal for a player who did impress in the early weeks of the World Cup, the 27-year-old scoring three times in just four games to maintain his major tournament hot streak for the Netherlands.

A man for the big occasion on the international scene, Gakpo does have his critics back on Merseyside, although even then he remains a real handful in his favoured left-wing berth.

During a muted 2025/26 campaign, he still racked up 12 goals and assists in the top flight, having previously impressed during the 2024/25 title-winning season, racking up 14 goals and assists that year.

At 27, he is at a different stage of his career to Savinho, although Gakpo does appear to be in a different league to the Brazilian in terms of productivity, with his haul of 26 league goal involvements across the last two seasons well ahead of his City counterpart on 11.

Even in the 18 months prior to that, Gakpo also chalked up 22 goals and assists at Premier League level, having initially arrived from PSV Eindhoven in January 2023.

He had been prolific back in Holland, racking up 105 goals and assists in just 155 games in all competitions for the Eredivisie side. As for Savinho, the then-teenager did actually join Gakpo’s PSV on loan for the 2022/23 season, albeit while registering two assists in just eight first-team outings, having spent much of his time in the U21 set-up.

Savinho, while still just 22, just doesn’t have that real body of work behind him, while Gakpo could fit the brief as a proven operator at Premier League level, with a record of 50 goals in 180 games at Anfield nothing to be sniffed at.

At a time when De Zerbi has assembled an experienced, exciting spine in defence and midfield, the club need to ensure that they aren’t found wanting in the forward line.

Gakpo, for all his doubters, might well be what they are looking for.