Somebody at Spurs has been busy with a notebook. Roberto De Zerbi has scribbled down five centre-forwards, and January is when he wants one of them through the door.

TEAMtalk, relayed via a transfer feed, names them: Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis, Espanyol’s Roberto Fernández, Real Madrid’s Endrick, Freiburg’s Igor Matanović and Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta. Five very different footballers.

What each striker brings

Pavlidis is the grafter, a Greek international who scores often and presses like he’s late for a bus. Fernández, a 24-year-old Spaniard, is quick and slippery. Endrick is 20, Brazilian and raw, with a left foot that scares defenders. Matanović, Croatian and tall, wins headers and keeps improving. Mateta, 29, already knows the Premier League and finishes with ice in his veins.

Dominic Solanke and Richarlison are the men in possession. Neither has made the shirt properly his own.

Which striker suits De Zerbi’s Tottenham best?

Pavlidis, for me. De Zerbi’s sides build short from the back, drag opponents out of shape, then strike into the space left behind. That demands a number nine who drops into midfield, links with the wingers and hounds centre-halves when we lose the ball. Pavlidis does all of it, and he scores in volume, which matters at a club that needs goals more than glamour.

Endrick is the exciting option, but excitement is a gamble. A 20-year-old who isn’t a regular starter at his own club could take time we can’t spare, and we’d be paying for potential rather than output.

Mateta gives us Premier League know-how and a proper penalty-box finisher. Still, at 29 he’d be a short-term fix, and De Zerbi likes building something that lasts.

Fernández and Matanović feel like squad-depth deals, not statements.

Solanke can still do a job, and Richarlison’s energy has value off the bench. But if the aim is a striker who makes the whole system click, Pavlidis is the one who ticks every box on De Zerbi’s list. Pay the money, get it done in January.