Tottenham paid big money to sign Dominic Solanke this summer and there are big expectations on the striker’s shoulders. So, who is he, and does his career to date point towards him making a success of himself in North London?
Ever since the sale of Harry Kane in the summer of 2023, Spurs have been looking for a new centre-forward to lead the line in Ange Postecoglou‘s side.
After much deliberation over the summer, Spurs made Dominic Solanke their big signing of the transfer window, and he is now expected to be the main source of goals for the Lilywhites.
If you’ve watched the Premier League over the last few years, you’ll be familiar with Solanke’s talents, but we’ve gone even deeper to bring you everything you need to know about the striker.
Dominic Solanke is Tottenham’s record signing
Solanke signed for Tottenham on Friday August 10, 2024 for a reported £65m, making him the club’s all-time record signing.
He made his Spurs debut against Leicester City on August 19, but was unable to make his mark in a 1-1 draw. Solanke also picked up an ankle injury in that game that saw him miss Tottenham’s next three league games.
The 27-year-old scored his first goal for the Lilywhites in a 3-1 win over Brentford on September 21, tapping in after a James Maddison effort was parried into Solanke’s path.
Ange Postecoglou has praised Solanke for his work ethic and claimed the striker will provide lots of goals for the team (BBC). The Spurs boss has made it clear that Solanke was the player he wanted the most when it came to finding a new centre-forward this summer (Football.London).
As per Transfermarkt data, Solanke is only worth £33.5m, suggesting Spurs overpaid against the striker’s actual market value. It is thought the marksman is on a six-year contract with Tottenham, worth £90,000 per week or £4.68m per year (Spotrac).
Where has Dominic Solanke played before?
Dominic Solanke came through the ranks at Chelsea as a youngster before joining Liverpool on a free transfer, and then signing for Bournemouth.
The forward actually only made one appearance for Chelsea, amounting to just 17 minutes of action. He was fairly prolific for the Blues’ youth teams, though, and enjoyed a relatively productive loan spell with Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem.
Solanke made the free switch to Liverpool in 2017 after his Chelsea contract expired, but bagged just one goal in 27 appearances for the Reds before moving on to Bournemouth in 2019.
He made 216 appearances for the Cherries, scoring 77 goals and registering 31 assists. Solanke really made a name for himself last season, when he scored 19 league goals for Bournemouth in the Premier League (Transfermarkt).
His previous best campaign before that came in the Championship, where Solanke bagged 29 goals in the 2021/22 season to help Bournemouth gain promotion to the top flight.
Dominic Solanke’s Trophies and awards
Despite only making one appearance for Chelsea, Solanke does have a Premier League winners medal from the 2016/17 season.
He was also a runner-up in the Champions League with Liverpool the following season.
At youth level, Solanke won the UEFA Youth League with Chelsea Under-19s and the Under-21 Premier League.
Solanke also helped the England Under-17s win the European Championship, and later was a key figure in the England Under-20 side that won the World Cup in 2017. He scored four goals in seven games in the Under-20 World Cup, and four goals in four games at the Under-17 Euros.
What does Dominic Solanke’s celebration mean?
Solanke’s current celebration sees him pull an imaginary arrow from his back, load up a bow and fire the arrow into the crowd.
Explaining the thinking behind this in an interview (via Tribuna), Solanke said: “The answer is nothing that’s going to excite anyone to be honest. It literally just came about when we were doing the media stuff before the season and I didn’t really have a signature celebration and that was just something that came to my mind. And it just kind of stuck.”
This is the same celebration you can see Mo Salah doing this season, and we’ve also seen Edinson Cavani pulling out the invisible bow and arrow in the past, too.
In the past, however, Solanke’s love for anime has come through in his celebrations. Most notably, last season, Solanke pulled out an Obito Uchiha mask, a character made popular by Naruto. He even struck the meditative pose the character uses in the show.
Solanke is a massive anime fan. So much so, that his announcement video upon signing for Spurs was anime-themed, with a bold animation style and graphics showing Solanke’s hidden ‘superpowers’.
Supporters at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium got to see his celebration when Solanke scored his first Tottenham goal in the 3-1 win over Brentford in September 2024.
Dominic Solanke’s height, weight, and family
Solanke is a very tall striker, coming in at 1.86m tall, but he’s pretty lean, weighing just 80kg. He was born on September 14, 1997, making him 27-years-old at the time of writing.
He was born in Basingstoke, England. Although he has represented England at all levels, his father is of Nigerian descent so he could have opted to play for the African country instead.
Solanke is currently engaged to Erica Raimondi having proposed in November 2022. The couple became parents for the first time in September 2023, when they celebrated the birth of a baby girl.
More England caps beckon for Dominic Solanke
Dominic Solanke has just one England cap so far, getting 15 minutes in a friendly against Brazil back in November 2017.
The forward represented England at every youth level, proving particularly prolific for the Under-17s and Under-20s. Interestingly, Solanke was also given his Under-21 debut by Gareth Southgate.
Naturally, as he was a bit-part player for Chelsea and Liverpool, more call-ups to the senior squad failed to come. Since he’s been with Bournemouth, he has spent a lot of time in the Championship, too, leaving other strikers to get ahead of him in the pecking order.
Solanke may have been a little unlucky not to catch Gareth Southgate’s eye ahead of Euro 2024 after his impressive campaign last term. But, with Ivan Toney moving to Saudi Arabia, there is a good chance Solanke can jump the queue behind Harry Kane, as long as the Spurs man has a good season, of course.