Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that his side considered a move for Ivan Toney before making Dominic Solanke their club-record signing in a £65m deal.
The Lilywhites did not splash the cash on a big-money Harry Kane replacement last summer, but the hierarchy made it a priority to sign a new seasoned number nine for the 2024-25 campaign.
A bidding war was expected to materialise for Toney, who was due to see his Brentford contract expire in 2025 and was at one point said to have been valued at £100m by the Bees amid interest from Arsenal and Chelsea.
However, Brentford never managed to drum up serious Premier League interest in the England international, despite drastically lowering their asking price, and he eventually joined Al-Ahli in a £40m deal on deadline day.
Spurs face Toney's former team Brentford in the top flight on Saturday, and speaking to the media in his pre-game press conference, Postecoglou confirmed that the ex-Bees man was "looked at", but the club quickly made Solanke their top priority.
Postecoglou defends Solanke record with "yoga" claim after Toney snub
"We did look at him but I have said Dom was the one I wanted and it took pretty much the whole summer to get him in because he was the one who fitted the profile of what we were looking for at the time," football.london quotes Postecoglou as saying.
Neither Toney nor Solanke have got off the mark for their new clubs yet, although the latter has only played three of Spurs' five games thus far due to an ankle injury he suffered on his first appearance against Leicester City.
Solanke struggled to make much of an impact against Arsenal in the Premier League or Coventry City in the EFL Cup, but Postecoglou has thrown support behind his new £65m man, insisting that he should be judged on 15 scoreless games rather than three.
"People are just so quick to judge, mate. It's a small sample. The guy has played less than two games for us. If he has gone 15 games without a goal then I can answer that question or 15 games where he hasn't contributed, but I just think take a breath. Do a bit of yoga," Postecoglou added.
"Think about the world for a second and make an assessment after that. We don't have to rush to make judgement all the time because the alternative is he may have got off to a great start, he is fit, scored in all four games, is flying and then he goes through a patch like all strikers where he doesn't score.
"I just don't look at those things. What I look at is he has come in, fitted really well and quite logically has picked up an injury that has disrupted the way he wanted to start his career, but he's still got plenty of time for that."
Postecoglou delivers Tottenham injury update before Brentford game
While Solanke is now fit again after his ankle problem, Tottenham ended their win over Coventry with a total of four concerns, as Wilson Odobert and Timo Werner were both forced off to join Yves Bissouma and Richarlison in the medical bay.
Postecoglou delivered a mixed update on the injury front in his press conference, revealing that Bissouma and Werner are on track to be fit but confirming that Odobert and Richarlison are still sidelined.
"Wilson doesn't look good, we are still waiting for it to settle down and get all the information but he will definitely be out for the next period. Bissouma trained today so he should be available for tomorrow. Timo is okay. He recovered okay," Postecoglou added.
"Everyone else from the game who didn't train last week is good. [Richarlison] is a fair way off, I think you should stop asking me about him until I give you a bit of an update. He has still not trained with the first team so he is still a bit off."
Tottenham enter the weekend in a lowly 13th place in the Premier League table, having collected a paltry four points from their opening four matches of the 2024-25 campaign.
