‘Nothing special’ – Rafa Van der Vaart thinks Tottenham overpaid for new player

Tottenham cult hero, Rafael Van der Vaart thinks his old club have overpaid for a pretty ordinary player this summer, which is a continuing trend in English football.

Tottenham paid big money to sign Dominic Solanke

Spurs shelled out up to £65m to bring Dominic Solanke to Hotspur Way from Bournemouth this summer, just over the club’s record deal for Tanguy Ndombele back in 2019 (BBC).

The Lilywhites also paid £30m to bring Archie Gray to the club, despite him only having played a single season for Leeds United down in the Championship (BBC).

You can add another £25m to the list of Championship signings, as the Lilywhites paid Burnley a decent chunk of change to sign winger Wilson Odobert too.

Rafael Van der Vaart thinks transfer fees are getting out of hand in England, with Solanke being the perfect example of overpaying for a player who he deems is ‘nothing special’.

Van der Vaart slams Spurs for overspending

The former Spurs and Real Madrid star told Metro: “I have a lot of problems with the money these days, especially in England. For really, really normal players, you guys pay 50, 60 million pounds. It is unbelievable.

“So when I see a transfer for that money, I already think it is unwise. Because I don’t believe Solanke gets 40 goals. For that money that is what you should be looking for. It is too much for a normal player.

“Players in England playing for smaller teams going to bigger teams for crazy money is not wise. But it is what happens and we have to wait and see how they perform.

“I also know Dominic when he played for Vitesse [on loan from Chelsea], I thought ok, good player but nothing special.”

Spurs Web Opinion:

£65m was a huge amount of money for a player with Solanke’s pedigree in the game, but you don’t really pay what players are worth these days, you pay what they are worth to the club you buy them from.

Solanke was Bournemouth’s main man and had just scored 19 Premier League goals for them in 2023/24, so his fee was always going to be inflated. It’s up to him to show that he is worth that money in the long run.

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