Tottenham have reached an agreement with Bournemouth over the signing of forward Dominic Solanke.
Spurs have been on the hunt for attacking reinforcements all summer and after Solanke emerged as the club’s preferred candidate, advanced talks began with the Cherries.
They have now accelerated and discussions over a fee were wrapped up on Friday afternoon with Tottenham set to spend an initial £55million on securing the services of Solanke, with a further £10m included in the deal as add-ons, the PA news agency understands.
Bournemouth owner Bill Foley had confirmed earlier this summer that Solanke’s contract included a release clause in the region of £65m and his anticipated exit will be a club-record sale for the Cherries.
Nathan Ake’s £40m transfer to Manchester City in 2020 was Bournemouth’s previous biggest departure and if Solanke can be a success in north London, his move could surpass Spurs’ £63m record deal for Tanguy Ndombele in 2019.
While Solanke’s arrival on the eve of the new season appears far from ideal, Spurs boss Postecoglou has confidence that new signings can have an instant impact.
Speaking earlier on Friday, Postecoglou said: “I have always felt that if you get the recruitment right then whoever it is hits the ground running.
“We signed Mickey van de Ven three days before the first game last year against Brentford and we threw him straight in. He literally hit the ground running.
“We are trying to identify players who fit into our style of football. There will be a bit of adjustment but hopefully they will already have those qualities to come into the group and contribute straight away.
“That is my expectation when we sign someone. They will be ready to contribute from the moment they arrive.”
Postecoglou gave the green light for Spurs to pursue Solanke after the best season of his career.
Solanke scored 21 goals in all competitions for Bournemouth last term – including 19 in the Premier League – but also caught the eye with his pressing statistics and link-up play for Andoni Iraola’s side.
His transfer to Tottenham will give Solanke another opportunity at a top-six club, after he progressed through Chelsea’s academy before he departed for Liverpool in 2017.
The immediate focus for Postecoglou is on Saturday’s friendly with Bayern Munich, with Harry Kane returning to Tottenham for the first time since his £100m exit last August.
But the Australian was quick to point out any incoming attacker is not a replacement for Kane.
“We showed last year that we were still a threatening team going forward without Harry. We are talking about a generational talent here, he was never going to be replaced, but invariably there will always be comparisons,” Postecoglou added.
“It’s pretty evident from the way we play that we are never going to be reliant on one player. When we are up and running we can score from many different areas.
“Hopefully the striker, when he is playing in our system, is a beneficiary of that as well as a contributor.”
Bournemouth boss Iraola had accepted Solanke would be a “big miss” earlier on Friday.
“I expected this to be the first question,” Iraola told a press conference.
“He is very complete, he helps us in all the phases of the game. He would be a big miss, obviously.”
