Tottenham are on the hunt for a striker to take the scoring burden off Harry Kane this season and have been linked with Danny Ings, Loren Moron, Wout Weghorst, Carlos Vinicius, Callum Wilson, Troy Deeney, Vedat Muriqi, Patrik Schick, Arkadiusz Milik, Robin Quaison, Rhian Brewster, Habib Diallo, Josh King, Ollie Watkins, Alexander Sørloth, Bas Dost, Christian Benteke and Mario Mandzukic.
Willian Jose da Silva is the latest centre-forward to pop up on our radar, but Noticias de Gipuzkoa say we may have competition from Barcelona to procure his signature. He’s in demand after hitting double figures for goals in his fourth consecutive season, but we have less than two weeks to complete all of our transfer business before the window shuts, so time is running out.
Who is Willian Jose?
A 28-year-old Brazilian striker who plays for Real Sociedad. He joined La Real from Maldonado in 2016 and has gone on to make 149 appearances in all competitions, scoring 56 goals with 14 assists.
Willian Jose’s scoring record at Sociedad
- 2016/17 (La Liga): 28 appearances, 12 goals, 4 assists
- 2017/18 (La Liga): 34 appearances, 15 goals, 4 assists
- 2018/19 (La Liga): 31 appearances, 11 goals, 5 assists
- 2019/20 (La Liga): 37 appearances, 11 goals, 1 assist
As per WhoScored, Willian Jose has created 116 chances, made 56/93 successful dribbles (60%), won 165/353 aerial duels (46.7%), taken 272 shots with 103 hitting the target (37.9%) and won 150 freekicks.
Where would he line up?
He’ll be a good foil for Kane in attack. It’s unlikely that Willian Jose would start ahead of the England international, but his scoring record suggests he’d be more than useful in a backup role. Whether he’s happy playing second fiddle at Tottenham remains to be seen, however, as he’s used to being a regular at the Anoeta Stadium.
How much will he cost?
Willian Jose has a release clause of €70m (£64.3m), is valued at €10m-€15m (£9.2m-£13.8m) with CIES Football Observatory and has a market value of £21.6m with Transfermarkt. Noticias de Gipuzkoa say he could be sold for €30m (£27.6m). Calciomercato believe we’re weighing up a bid between €20m-€25m (£18.4m-£23m), so time will tell if he can land our man.
In other news, Matt Doherty is not having the best start to life at Tottenham