Santiago Gimenez may already be cruising towards the Eredivisie’s Golden Boot award after the Feyenoord striker’s agent admitted that Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur were watching his client.
While Heung-Min Son’s return to form has gone some way to offsetting the loss of Harry Kane over the summer, the absence of a natural ‘number nine’ still threatens to become something of a stumbling block for a Tottenham Hotspur side who have exploded out of the starting gate under Ange Postecoglou.
Santiago Gimenez, then, is one to keep an a hawk-like eye on over the coming months.
The Mexico international’s agent confirmed back in August, speaking to Medio Tempo, that Tottenham had joined AC Milan, Inter, Napoli and co in chasing the Eredivisie-winning poacher.
Gimenez – and Feyenoord as a whole – has since picked up where he left off in 2022/23. That stunning hat-trick in the 4-0 obliteration of arch-rivals Ajax means Gimenez has ten goals in just seven starts already this term for the reigning Eredivisie champions.
Tottenham watching Feyenoord striker Santiago Gimenez
“Gimenez is greedier (than other strikers). I think he will be the top scorer in the Netherlands,” former Feyenoord poacher Roy Makaay tells Algemeen Dagblad.
“(Gimenez is the best in the league) because he is very goal-oriented and improves every day,” adds John van Loen, an Eredivisie champion in 1993. “Everything he touches seems to go towards the goal.
“He is so driven and is increasingly participating (in the build-up). Every coach wants a striker like that.”
According to 90Min, Arsenal and Chelsea have joined Spurs in scouting Feyenoord’s free-scoring centre-forward. Head coach Arne Slot is not ruling out a January departure either. Feyenoord, he points out, have already laid down the foundations for Gimenez’s eventual – and arguably inevitable – sale by bringing in a readymade replacement, Ayasu Ueda arriving from Cercle Brugge over the summer.
Spurs’ potential Harry Kane replacement
“He is doing well. That cannot be denied,” Slot, himself a target for Spurs not so long ago, tells ESPN.
“The great thing about Feyenoord is that, last summer, we were able to spend money on replacements. So we have a broad bench, also in case one leaves later.
“It is not yet January. I do not know whether (Gimenez) is planning to leave in January. But you never know. In any case, we already have a very good striker in Ueda.”
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