Tottenham Hotspur may have reservations about bringing Santiago Gimenez to the Premier League on current form with the Feyenoord striker going through a ‘very poor’ spell in front of goal.
Six years ago last month, Feyenoord rejected a big-money bid for Nicolai Jorgensen, the striker who had fired them to their first Eredivisie title since the turn of the Century back in 2017/18.
If the Rotterdam giants could turn back the clock, with the benefit of hindsight, they would have snapped Newcastle’s arm off at the elbow. Jorgensen, after all, would not come close to recapturing the lightning-in-a-bottle that was his prolific debut season at De Kuip, eventually joining Kasimpasa for a far lower fee than the one Newcastle were offering.
The striker is now a free-agent at the age of 33.
Now, it would be unfair in the extreme to suggest that a similar fate awaits Santiago Gimenez. But with the Mexico international’s agent admitting interest not only from Tottenham Hotspur but from Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan too, the sorry tale of Nicolai Jorgensen is perhaps one Feyenoord can stand to learn from, especially with Gimenez too seeming to suffer from ’second-season syndrome’.
“At Feyenoord, a few players are demonstrably inferior. The striker doesn’t touch (his previous form) anymore,” reporter Maarten Wijffels explains on the Algemeen Dagblad podcast.
“You might have to ask yourself, it’s risky, but (is this) a bit of a Jorgensen story? The decline is really great.”
Spurs linked striker in ‘very poor’ form
Gimenez, reportedly valued at around £40 million, did flow out of the blocks at the start of this term. He netted 15 times in his first 11 outings. That feast, however, has given way to a relative famine – Gimenez missing a penalty in the recent 0-0 draw with FC Twente.
With 21 already in all competitions, however, those Jorgensen comparisons feel a little overblown. Gimenez has shown what he can be at top form. Now, it’s time for him to show his class is permanent, especially if a big-money move to one of Europe’s major leagues is on the cards.
“What he has shown lately has been very poor,” counters Mario Been, a Feyenoord icon himself once upon a time (ESPN). “He is the only one who can find himself again with hard work. The way he sat on the bench against AZ, with that hood over his head, it says something.
“(That his current struggles) bothers him too.”
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