Analysing Santiago Gimenez.
When Tottenham sold Harry Kane in August, the number one question on everyone’s lips was: Who replaces Harry Kane? People expected Spurs to go out and sign a number 9 but the solution was already at Tottenham. Heung Min Son. The Korean has taken to life under Ange like duck to water, re finding himself and the player that we did not see in the 22/23 season where he scored only 10 goals in the league, he’s already managed 8 in the league this season. Despite Sonny’s good start Spurs are heavily linked to Feyenoord and Mexico star, Santiago Gimenez.
In this piece I will analyse the Mexicans game picking out his strengths, weaknesses and answering if Spurs should take the risk with an Eredivisie striker again.
Player profile:
Name: Santiago Gimenez
Age: 22 years old
Position: ST
Height: 5ft10
Pref foot: Left foot
Contact exp: 30th June 2027
Est transfer value: £35m/€45m
Gimenez physical profile.
Let’s start by painting his physical building. Gimenez stands at 5ft10 although to the eye he appears taller, I reckon a rough estimation would put him at 6ft. He has a very stereotypical striker build, he’s got a larger muscular upper body that allows him to compete well in duels with CBs – sometimes bullying them – and dominate smaller more diminutive full backs. Shoulder to shoulder he absorbs contact well and can easily hold his own, he’s also adept with his back to goal where he’s able to show to feet and hold off CBs that are pressuring his back side, This season Gimenez has scored a few goals that displayed his strength with back to goal. He’s strong and adept at using his body to create the sufficient amount of separation to fire at goal. These goals can be seen below.
Gimenez isn’t just a classic target man though. He’s got a good burst of acceleration that allows him to reach an optimal speed in optimal time allowing him to make effective runs into the channel, runs in behind, pounce onto loose balls, to support transitions, and close angles and players down when leading a press. Traits that would be used in N17 without a doubt. Spurs fans should be fairly knowledgeable on Arne Slot and his basic methods, he loves when his team presses and with Gimenez often leading the press and being an outlet both in behind defences and to feet, he has to have an impeccable engine and fitness which he does with quality not dropping the later on he plays in games. He’s got bags of energy that’s very infectious. For a fairly larger attacker he has respectable agility – you can see this in his 2nd vs Ajax this season and the opening goal vs Shakhtar last season in the Europa League – and balance. He’s able to absorb contact and remain upright and contort his body and remain in control to fire shots away at goal. You can see his agility well in his movement off the ball in the box, he’s able to attack the box at a high speed but has the agility to take a quick step to change his approach angle altogether creating a yard for himself, which is often all he needs. For a striker especially one with size, heading will always be brought up and the Mexican does have a good powerful leap on him from standing positions and on the run attacking the ball making him even more of a threat in the box and a more diverse outlet if looking to play more long and direct.
In summary physically Gimenez is impressive, able to relentlessly run for his team for 90 minutes whilst also remaining as an effective outlet with his leap, strength with his back to goal, and his speed in behind.
Gimenez technical profile
This may come as a surprise but a strikers job is in-fact to score goals (someone tell Richy) and Santiago Gimenez’ scores goals, he has 38 goals in 60 games already for Feyenoord in all comps, 15 of them coming in this season already. A very good return. I believe his shooting/ball striking is good but has it’s inconsistencies the further he is away from goal, this is where shots tend to be more wild and out of control despite generating good force behind them they just lack the all round placement but in a Spurs context that is fairly irrelevant as our forwards rarely shoot from range under Ange. 70% of Gimenez’s transfer value lays in his ability in the 18 yard box where he is ruthless from any situation or angle. Tap ins, clever cute finishes, smashing front post finishes, finessed far post finishes, headers with power, headers with placement, headers with placement and power, and penalties. His goal catalogue has a large variety and that’s what makes him such a desirable player, he’s malleable to how you want and need your striker to finish the chances, from cut backs he’s efficient, with back to goal he’s efficient, aerially he’s efficient with space to improve, with space he’s efficient. All these shots and finishes generate tremendous power often hit low meaning if he doesn’t have the accuracy of picking out the corners the power he can create behind shots is often enough to get him a goal. This would have to change if he moved to the Premier League though where the all round quality of goalkeepers is in another world compared to the Eredivisie. For example his goal vs Utrecht this season, where he had a quick snap shot from a fairly awkward angle and it went straight through the goalkeeper and in. You can see the accuracy of his shots, and where he takes them with these images. [Via Fotmob]
You can see the large majority of his shots come within the 18 yard box and more particularly within the width of the six yard box. You can also see that lack of consistency when picking out the corners with his goals and shots (Goals = ball. Miss/save = red dot) if he’s able to pick up consistency and find the corners more consistently his shots will be truly unstoppable. With Spurs fans having the pleasure of watching Harry Kane for years on years they will or should be aware of the importance of creating separation for these shots. A yard is all it takes for a good striker to get a shot away, Gimenez does that we’ll particularly using his body to hold off players or roll them to find a shooting opportunity. Dribbling to create separation is something I didn’t see much of in the matches I watched however it was a weaknesses of his I found, 1v1 in dribbling scenarios where he has to take on his man he’s not very good. Lacks the creativity and skill to take on his man, his footwork in these situations were noticeably poor losing to heavy touches or loss of possession. This isn’t such a big deal as he’s a striker, but if he had the ball on edge of box and looking to create an angle or shooting opportunity I wouldn’t put my money on him. Bringing up Harry Kane again like an ex you can’t get over, but at Spurs we were spoiled with the beauty of Kane receiving to feet and finding a clever pass, winning a foul, or retaining possession superbly even when outnumbered although Santiago Gimenez doesn’t have Harry Kane levels of hold up play/link play he is very good at it. His first touch on both feet is often very good, and as mentioned previously with him being comfortable with pressure on his backside he leverages his body between man and ball well adding extra security when in possession and linking play. He doesn’t drop into pockets turn and play those beautiful longer range passes we saw with Kane but he drops, takes a touch and plays wide to wingers well when need be. When holding up play his passes to runners in behind were well weighted and executed with good quality, making it very easy to take in their path.
Gimenez tactical profile.
Gimenez doesn’t just spawn in the goal scoring positions, in football this may shock you, you have to move. I know wow, my ball knowledge is generational! But Gimenez moves, very well in fact it’s probably one of his strongest points to his game. A lot of people talk about players having ‘gravity’ in simplest form of explanation.
Gravity = A player – usually a good one – that makes opponents have to follow or move accordingly to his movements.
Gimenez’s movement off the ball specifically in the final and middle third constantly creates himself or team mates space, usually he likes to start in central areas before pulling into the half space between CB and FB which opens up a lot of space centrally as the CB will usually narrow the space between him and his FB limiting Gimenez’s space but opening up space for midfielders to arrive late in central areas this is seen usually when play is wide with one of the wingers, and this movement will be to the far side half space. So say Paixao has the ball on the left, Gimenez will veer from the central corridor to the right half space this results in space for Paixao to come inside on his stronger right foot & Gimenez will be positioned on the blindside of the CB if a cross or cut back comes in. He will also quite regularly create space in behind for wingers to make darting runs from out wide by showing to feet this was very effective in this seasons game vs Utrecht.
Feyenoord being such a high pressing side allows us to get an idea roughly on how he could be used and how he could play in a Ange Postecoglou Tottenham side. As I mentioned in the physical profiling the Mexican is blessed with good acceleration, speed and fitness therefore he can relentlessly press from the front for Arne Slot. In the games I watched Gimenez’s pressing didn’t lead to him making turnovers and winning the ball back himself however he was very good at arching his run – didn’t slow down during this – and forcing the play into the right areas at the right time whether that’s pressing from out to in cutting off passes into FBs and into congested central areas or pressing in the central area applying the pressure and cutting off the passing lane into CM and forcing the pass into the FB which CBs at times were reluctant to make resulting in a longer direct pass.
Gimenez psychological profile.
Watching these games it was noticeable how selfless Gimenez is, he works hard for his team whether that’s pressing late on or creating space for others. He rarely got frustrated or wound up by opponents, team mates or missed chances he just got his chin up and moved on. That is the most british piece of analysis you will ever read, I am sorry. Was very vocal to team mates when wanting to receive passes, predominantly pointing into space in behind where he wants the pass played.
An entire summary of his game.
Gimenez is a bullish number 9, one with a good mentality, work rate and eye for goal. Physically he isn’t weak with a strong upper body and powerful legs allowing him to be a versatile 9 that can hold up play, link play, jump, run in behind, strike with power. He’s not the finished product but he fits the Ange mould of a striker that’s better with fewer touches but those touches coming in dangerous areas which will certainly happen with his sharp instinctive movement in front of goal.
Does he fit in at Tottenham?
Lets start with off field things, Gimenez being a native Spanish speaker in the Netherlands I expect and am very confident in saying he would have basic or decent English, and that’s not particularly a big issue at Tottenham due to a large Spanish speaking presence in the dressing room so settling in off the pitch in the dressing room won’t be too big of an issue in my opinion.
On the pitch and tactically you can definitely see him working in an Ange side being a high level box striker is a massive green flag but also being a selfless player that will happily run the hard yards off the ball whether that’s pressing or creating space for team mates. It provides an interesting dynamic certainly, especially with Heung Min Son who’s enjoyed a great start to the season centrally as a 9 compared to his horror season last year off the left. I’d use Gimenez at Spurs in a near identical way to how he is used at Feyenoord, emphasising on his movement to create space in central areas for the likes of Son and late runs from midfield whether that’s Maddison, Sarr or Bentancur. That hold up play and link up ability could also provide a fruitful dynamic with James Maddison who often receives superbly between lines before finding a pass and carrying on his run forward, you can definitely see Gimenez being almost used as a wall to create shooting opportunities for Maddison specifically thinking off the left hand side where he can wrap his foot round the ball in the same manner he did vs Burnley. Those movements from between both CBs to the middle of far side CB and FB would also be a lovely chance to get the most out of Kulusevski’s trademark inswinging crosses to the backpost where we notoriously saw Richarlison miss a sitter vs Luton.
My opinion.
The Eredivisie petrifies Spurs fans as well as many other fans of Premier League clubs, we’ve seen some amazing talents leave the top boys in the Netherlands and completely crash and burn in England, Donny Van de Beek being a good example. A player who went from scoring against Tottenham in a UCL Semi Final to being a forgotten figure at United who had an even more forgetful loan spell at Everton as they narrowly avoided relegation. Spurs fans will be particularly scared after we saw a highly rated Vincent Janssen leave AZ Alkmaar to come to Spurs and become a joke figure, it’s difficult to suggest why your club should take the risk on high level transfer fee’s from a league that has let many clubs down. However despite all the stinkers you’re not signing a player in Gimenez that is a one trick pony, he has many feathers to his arrow and as I said before he’s a malleable player and one you can rely on to take on a number of different roles and responsibilities. I think this is a risk worth taking, with him now being available in European fixtures for Feyenoord I expect his stock to rise significantly as he will likely prove he is a UCL level striker. If the chance is there and there is also a clear plan to the signing taking into account not only his fit stylistically but with the likes of Heung Min Son, Richarlison and summer signing Alejo Veliz I’d be more than happy to see Spurs secure his signature. If you can secure it for under £50m I believe it’s a good deal.
It’s been a lengthy one but thank you for reading.
TSS✌️
