Wearing the Tottenham shirt is currently too big of a prospect for Dominic Solanke amid his recent struggles.
That’s the view of talkSPORT’s Gabby Agbonlahor, who has called for the striker to rediscover his Bournemouth form in north London.
Solanke appears to be finding it tough at Spurs so farGetty
Spurs signed Solanke from Bournemouth this summer in a club record deal worth £55million plus £10million worth of add-ons.
Despite being the Premier League’s joint-fourth highest scorer last season on 19 goals, he is yet to net for his new club.
Solanke was unable to make an impact in his third Spurs outing on Wednesday night in their late 2-1 Carabao Cup win over Coventry City.
As a result, talkSPORT’s Agbonlahor believes he needs to regain his composure and replicate his scoring success from Bournemouth.
“You know with Solanke, Solanke has just got to like, have a chat with the manager and just calm down,” he said to Alan Brazil on Breakfast.
“He looks like he’s… the shirt’s too big for him at the moment.
“Just remember what you did last season for Bournemouth, you were outstanding, think about the things you were doing last season.
“Holding the ball up, making runs, being strong, being aggressive, getting in the box because, he doesn’t want to be that player that you go two or three games without scoring.
“When you’re at a new club, the pressure comes on. He got brought off last night again, perfect game at the weekend for him against Brentford at home [live on talkSPORT 2 on Saturday] to hopefully get off the mark.”
He added: “The big advice I’d give him is that you’re a top player and there’s a reason why you were bought for big money.
“At Bournemouth he was a menace, he was bullying defenders and putting his body in the way. Just don’t think to yourself that you are at a bigger club now at Spurs that the pressure is on.
“He just needs that first goal now. Ange needs to keep playing him.”
Former Spurs boss Tim Sherwood has also offered words of encouragement for Solanke and believes that once he finds his first goal, he’ll be ‘off and running’.
Solanke is yet to find the back of the net for his new club in three appearancesGetty
But Agbonlahor wants him to emulate his excellent efforts at BournemouthGetty
“Just keeping playing, you know? You’re going to play. I would say to him, ‘Who else is there at the moment to play ahead of him?’
“Paid big money for him, just give him a conversation and say look, ‘No matter what happens today, you’re in the team next week. I’m going to persevere with you, I want you to get strikes at goal, be yourself, be like you were when you played for Bournemouth.
“‘You’ve been at big clubs,’ he’s been at Chelsea, he’s been at Liverpool, he never got the opportunity. It’s easy to play for Bournemouth, with respect, you know, the teams that are around the mid-table in the Premier League.
“It’s a lot harder playing for big clubs but I believe he’s got the capability, certainly got the tools to be able to do it, he just needs a goal, get some confidence and he’s off and running.”
Solanke, who scored 77 goals in 216 appearances for Bournemouth, had an encouraging performance on his Spurs debut in their 1-1 draw against Leicester City.
However, he missed their 3-0 victory over Everton and 2-1 defeat at Newcastle due to an ankle injury.
The 27-year-old returned to the starting XI for the 1-0 north London derby loss to Arsenal as well as their midweek trip to Coventry.
Solanke will hope to score his first goal this weekend against BrentfordGetty
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou opted to substitute him for Heung-min Son in the 62nd minute before his side turned the tie around.
Their Championship hosts took the lead through Brandon Thomas-Asante and came close to sealing a shock victory.
Spurs levelled the scoring in the 88th minute though thanks to Djed Spence before Brennan Johnson netted their stoppage-time winner.