Where would Tottenham target Weghorst fit into Mourinho’s team?

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 19 May 2021 15:43 BST
• 3 min read

The January transfer window is just around the corner and it seems as though Tottenham Hotspur may be set to have a second stab at signing a forward target from the summer. 

The Premier League club were reportedly chasing the signature of Wolfsburg striker Wout Weghorst, but weren’t able to convince their Bundesliga counterparts to part with their cherished goalscorer. 

In the end, Jose Mourinho was forced to make do with Carlos Vinicius on loan from Benfica, but it seems as though Spurs may have another chance of signing the player they really wanted. 

According to German newspaper SportBild, the Dutch striker has a release clause of €32 million and would be allowed to leave Wolfsburg if Tottenham met that price. 

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What kind of player is Weghorst? 

Standing tall at just under 6 feet and five inches, it’ll come as no great surprise to any football fan that Weghorst’s most notable talents lie in his ability to beat other players in the air. 

So far in this season’s Bundesliga three of the Dutch striker’s goals have come from headers and only Bayern Munich goal scorer Robert Lewandowski has scored more in the German top-flight with his head. 

Indeed, while the Wolfsburg forward sits twelfth in the division for the amount of aerial duels he’s attempted this season, his aerial duel success rate stands at an impressive 59 percent and is bested by just one other striker in the Bundesliga. 

But he’s also far more than just a big lump of a player that can win headers. Weghorst is also an exceptional goalscorer. Since joining Wolfsburg from AZ Alkmaar in July 2018, the Dutch forward has scored 51 goals and picked up a further 13 assists in 97 games in all competitions. And this season has seen him pick up an impressive 13 goals from 18 games. 

So while Weghorst is by no means the kind of goal machine you’d expect in Lewandowski or Erling Haaland, he’s undoubtedly a handful up front and a player that knows how to score more than enough goals at a high standard. 

Wout Weghorst’s record for Wolfsburg

Where would he fit in at Tottenham? 

There’s little doubt that Mourinho is perfectly happy with the goalscoring form of his two main attacking players, Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane. Combined, both players have scored 30 goals this season and have a truly remarkable partnership with one another. 

However, once you get beyond the blockbuster strikers it’s quite easy to note a real drop in quality when Mourinho turns to back-up forwards to match that kind of form. 

Tottenham’s third top goalscorers are Lucas Moura and Giovani Lo Celso, with just five goals each. And on-loan striker Vinicius has picked up just three goals in six appearances. 

It’s here that Weghorst would undoubtedly add a new string to Mourinho’s bow. Not only would the Dutch forward be a better alternative to Vinicius but he could also slot into Kane’s current role as the target man and focal point of Tottenham’s counter attacks with relative ease. 

Whether he’d ultimately get enough game time behind Kane and Son is another question entirely, but having him on the bench would undoubtedly help Mourinho sleep better at night and come in handy when his squad reach the business end of the season.