Who is Elye Wahi? It’s safe to assume Tottenham Hotspur are in the market for a new striker since a certain England captain left the club recently, so it’s time to get acquainted with one of the names linked with a move to North London.
So, Harry Kane is now officially a Bayern Munich player, but before Spurs fans mourn the loss of the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, it’s worth looking at the positives. The Lilywhites now have around £100m at their disposal (Sky Sports) and room in the squad to be filled by a new goalscoring hero.
Elye Wahi could be the young man to step into that role, with Tottenham thought to be keen on the Frenchman. The only trouble is, plenty of other clubs like Wahi, too, including Chelsea and PSG (FootMercato).
In the event that Spurs do win the race for Wahi, we’ve compiled this report with all the information you need on the 20-year-old.
Name: Elye Wahi
Age: 20-years-old
Place of birth: Courcouronnes, France
Current club: Montpellier
Former clubs: SM Caen Jugend
International appearances: 3 caps, 1 goal for France at U21 level (Transfermarkt)
Club appearances: 92 appearances, 32 goals (Transfermarkt)
Elye Wahi career stats
The 2022/23 campaign was the year that Elye Wahi announced himself as one of the most exciting talents in France, as he scored at a rate of more than a goal every other game.
In fact, of his 32 career goals, 19 of them came in Ligue 1 last season, and if that wasn’t enough, he also added six assists for his team. (Transfermarkt).
When comparing Wahi to his peers in the French league, it’s interesting to note that he comes out on top in terms of goals to XG, with the 20-year-old actually scoring 6.8 goals more than expected. In addition, he had the highest rate of shots on target, with 58% of his efforts finding the target (FBRef).
The youngster also represented the French Under-21 side at this summer’s European Championship, but was unable to get on the scoresheet and couldn’t help his country past the quarter-final stages.
Elye Wahi strengths and weaknesses
Elye Wahi is an incredibly inventive attacker, who not only has a keen eye for goal but also fantastic awareness to offer his teammates goalscoring opportunities. Just by looking at Wahi’s goals from last season, it’s clear that he is an incredibly intelligent and tenacious striker who will find a way to score goals that others just cannot see.
The youngster is as fast as lightning and possesses an array of skills and tricks to help him beat his man. He is also very cool and composed under pressure and has bags of confidence, all of which make him a very difficult forward for defenders to deal with.
It’s an easy comparison to make, but there are definitely shades of French legend Thierry Henry in the way Wahi plays the beautiful game. That said, there is very little evidence to suggest Wahi can score goals from outside the box like Henry used to, but at 20-years-old, he has plenty of time to learn.
Wahi is tall, but does not pose much of a physical presence, which means he can struggle when it comes to aerial duels and holding up the ball. He also needs to work on his positional awareness, as he was caught offside 25 times last season (FootyStats).
What are people saying about Elye Wahi?
While many are excited about what Elye Wahi can do, Fabrizio Romano has claimed the “talented” player perhaps needs “one more step” before signing for a top Premier League Club (CaughtOffside).
In an interview with France Bleu (via GOAL), Francis de Taddeo, who previously worked with Wahi at Caen and later reunited with the young striker at Montpellier describes Wahi as “a powerful, athletic, and fast player with a range of dribbling skills where only he knows what he is going to do next.”
After Wahi scored four goals in one game last season – a 5-4 defeat to French giants Lyon – talent scout Jacek Kulig hailed the Montpellier man as “incredible,” and for a player at such a young age to be performing the way he is, it’s hard to disagree.
What do The Spurs Web think?
The French league may not be quite as strong as the Premier League, but plenty of talented players have successfully transitioned to the English game after breaking through in Ligue 1.
For Spurs, Elye Wahi would be a very different player to Harry Kane, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. As something of a poacher, you would imagine Wahi would relish the opportunity to be fed goalscoring opportunities by the likes of James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.
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