Tottenham Hotspur’s signing of Carlos Vinicius has gone remarkably well.
The striker arrived at the club from Benfica in the summer on an initial loan deal.
Spurs do have the option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season, for a fee of £41m.
While Vinicius has not exactly been first-choice, that is to be expected given the presence of Harry Kane in Jose Mourinho’s squad.
He has only played once in the Premier League but in his five Europa League appearances, he has scored three goals and registered three assists.
He has offered an excellent alternative to Kane in the European competition, playing in all but one of the Europa League games, allowing the England captain to maintain his fitness ahead of their Premier League games.
Vinicius was injured before the 3-3 draw with LASK but scored a brace against Ludogorets and once against Royal Antwerp.
And his form has led to Darren Bent, the ex-Spurs striker, claiming that the Brazilian has earned the right to have his initial loan made permanent.
Speaking to Football Insider, he said: “He’s come in, he’s learning his role – he knows his role is to back up to Harry Kane, he knows he’s not going to oust him yet, but he knows full well that when he gets in there, he needs to do the business.”
He added: “He’s led the line really well so I think Mourinho will look at it and go: ‘Well yeah, I wouldn’t mind keeping him around.’
“There’s a drop off between him and Harry Kane but that’s going to be the same for any striker that goes in at Spurs.”
GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…
Vinicius is perhaps the best Spurs can get in terms of a back-up striker.
He’s 25 and has shown that he is more than okay with being the second-choice to Kane.
The Spurs superstar, of course, has been in electric form this season and has scored 15 goals and registered 13 assists in 19 games, which is a genuinely astonishing ratio.
It is no surprise, then, that Vinicius is not in the first-team, but he has continued to take his chance when handed it in the Europa League.
Paying over £40m for him is a steep price, but giving Kane a rest, at the end of the day, is priceless.