Tottenham Pursue Icardi as Goal Crisis Deepens Under De Zerbi

Tottenham’s start to life under Roberto De Zerbi was supposed to be bold, front-foot, attacking. Instead, four league games in, the numbers are brutal: zero goals scored, eight conceded, two points, 17th in the table.

When a club spends this heavily on its forward line and still cannot lay a glove on the opposition, the search for answers turns urgent. At Spurs, it has turned to Mauro Icardi.

A short-term fix for a long-term problem

According to Cronache di Spogliatoio, Tottenham are weighing up a move for the 33-year-old Argentine, who is a free agent after ending a four-year stay at Galatasaray. On paper, it looks like the classic stop-gap: a proven penalty-box striker, available without a fee, dropped into a side that has forgotten how to finish.

Icardi’s time in Turkey reminded Europe of what he does best. He thrived in the Super Lig, racking up goals and trophies, adding four league titles with Galatasaray to a CV that already included two Ligue 1 crowns at Paris Saint-Germain. He is not a project player, not one for tomorrow. He is about the here and now. And right now, Tottenham’s attack is broken.

De Zerbi’s team have gone four Premier League fixtures without finding the net. The patterns of play that defined his previous work have yet to translate into end product in North London. The Carabao Cup offered a brief illusion of fluency with a 5-1 win over Charlton Athletic, but Liverpool promptly snapped Spurs back to reality, dumping them out in midweek and exposing just how far they remain from the division’s elite.

Big money, small returns

The interest in Icardi lands awkwardly against the backdrop of Tottenham’s lavish summer. This was not a window of caution; it was a statement of intent.

• Sandro Tonali arrived for £100 million to anchor and energise midfield.
• Mateus Fernandes followed for £85 million, another major outlay.
• Winger Savio cost the same, £85 million, recruited to add incision and unpredictability in wide areas.

Up front, Spurs pushed again. Omar Marmoush joined on loan from Manchester City, with a £60 million obligation to buy built into the deal. On paper, it was a modern, flexible front line. On grass, it has been anything but ruthless.

Marmoush has started league games against Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and in the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool. There have been flashes — clever movement, the odd sharp touch — but no goals. For a club in this kind of drought, “glimpses of quality” feel like a luxury they cannot afford.

Dominic Solanke has fared no better. Trusted to lead the line, he has yet to justify that faith in hard numbers, failing to score in his first five appearances. The frustration is obvious: Tottenham are creating just enough to feel they should be dangerous, yet not nearly enough to actually be so.

Richarlison frozen out

All of this plays out against the backdrop of a fractured relationship with one of the club’s most high-profile forwards. Richarlison, once central to Tottenham’s plans, now finds himself exiled from the first-team picture after what has been described as a disastrous fallout with the club.

He has not featured since the 3-0 opening-day defeat to Brentford, a result that set the tone for a bleak first month. In a squad crying out for goals, one of its most recognisable attackers is nowhere near the pitch.

That decision underlines the scale of the issues De Zerbi is juggling. This is not simply a finishing problem. It is a chemistry problem, a dressing-room problem, a confidence problem.

Olympiacos circle as wages loom large

Tottenham’s interest in Icardi does not come in a vacuum. Journalist Nahuel Ferreira reports that Olympiacos have already made formal contact with the striker’s camp in a bid to close a deal last week.

The talks have yet to yield an agreement. The sticking point is predictable: money. Icardi’s wage demands are significant, with reports suggesting he earns around £8.6 million per year. For any club, that is a serious commitment for a 33-year-old forward. For Spurs, already heavily invested in their current attacking options, it would be a bold admission that the summer rebuild has not delivered where it matters most.

If they move, they will do so knowing that Icardi is not a development piece but a specialist. He lives in the penalty area, thrives on service, and judges his nights by goals alone. That profile could either unlock De Zerbi’s system or expose its current flaws even more starkly.

De Zerbi under growing scrutiny

The pressure on De Zerbi is building quickly. Two draws, two defeats, no goals, eight conceded: the numbers are stark enough, but it is the manner of the performances that will concern supporters. Spurs look disjointed in the final third, hesitant where they were supposed to be incisive.

The Carabao Cup rout of Charlton offered a brief reprieve, but Liverpool’s midweek win over Tottenham underlined the gulf between aspiration and reality. Against top opposition, Spurs looked like a side still trying to understand itself.

That is the backdrop to the Icardi conversation. This is not a glamorous, opportunistic swoop; it is a search for something, anything, that can jolt a misfiring squad into life.

For Tottenham, the question is simple and brutal: do they double down on their expensive summer vision, trusting time and De Zerbi’s methods, or do they pivot toward a veteran finisher whose best work has often come amid chaos in the box?

If they choose Icardi, it will say plenty about how desperate the situation has become — and how quickly this season is threatening to slip away.