Ange Postecoglou expects imminent striker signing at Tottenham amid Dominic Solanke talks

Ange Postecoglou expects Tottenham to have wrapped up the signing of a new starting striker by the time of their Premier League opener against Leicester on Monday, August 19.

Spurs are in advanced talks to sign Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth for a fee that would represent a club-record sale by the Cherries. The striker, 26, is desperate to join the North London club.

Tottenham were always going to target a new striker this summer, and Solanke has emerged as the leading candidate in recent days. A deal is now likely to go through.

Speaking ahead of Tottenham’s final pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich on Saturday , Postecoglou was asked whether a striker should be expected by the Leicester game. “Yes,” he responded curtly.

“We are trying to identify players who fit into our style of football. There will be a bit of adjustment but hopefully they will already have those qualities to come into the group and contribute straight away.

“That is my expectation when we sign someone: that they will be ready to contribute from the moment they arrive.”

Postecoglou said no incoming striker would be a direct replacement for club record scorer Harry Kane , who left for Bayern Munich last summer.

“We showed last year that we were still a threatening team going forward without Harry,” he said.

“We are talking about a generational talent here. He was never going to be replaced, but invariably there will always be comparisons.

“Hopefully the striker, when he is playing in our system, is a beneficiary of that as well as a contributor.”

Asked how he feels the squad is shaping up ahead of the season, Postecoglou said: “We’re in a decent position. We’re still a very young group — there’ll be improvement in even the guys that did well last year. We had a lot of players where it was their first year in the Premier League or their first year at Spurs.

“A lot of those guys are still very young. Our job is to make sure they’re still improving. The players we’ve added this year have, from my perspective, given us some more cover and quality in areas where we fell short. But we’re not there yet. Hopefully over the next three weeks we get the ones we want in. Then we’ll have a squad hopefully capable of contesting.”

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