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‘I’m really happy’: Jose Mourinho raves about Spurs 25-year-old, says his best is yet to come
Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has waxed lyrical about Carlos Vinicius after he impressed on his Spurs debut last night.
Vinicius joined Tottenham from Benfica at the start of October, ending the North Londoners’ search for a striker to ease the burden on Harry Kane.
As per the Portuguese club’s , the Brazilian joined on loan for a fee of £2.7m, though Tottenham have the option of making the deal permanent next summer for around £40m.
Vinicius netted 24 times in 2019-20 and was the joint-top scorer in the Primeira Liga with 18 goals, though despite his efforts, remains uncapped by the Selecao as of yet.
On Thursday night, Mourinho named the 25-year-old in his starting XI for the Europa League meeting with LASK, and he rewarded his manager with two assists en route to a 3-0 win.
Vinicius set Lucas Moura up for the game’s opener on 18 minutes before assisting Son Heung-min with a cushioned header for the game’s third in the 84th minute.
“He played well but he can do better,” Mourinho is quoted by as saying after the game.
“It is a bit of a shame still, it is not easy not to speak English so the adaption to the group, in spite of having amazing guys that try to make him feel well, is not easy.
“He is still in a learning process, Vinicius can be much more than this. But first match I am really happy, the only thing that was missing was a goal.
“But we can see he is much more than… he is not selfish, he is a good target man, he can even play with Harry Kane when his good period arrives.
“He can play with Harry and not just be the guy to cover him. I am very happy and the feelings over everyone in the squad are good towards him.”
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It had been a long time coming, but Spurs finally have a centre-forward who can cover for Kane, and Vinicius certainly did well for the North Londoners while the England international was able to rest up on the bench.
It was a great debut and, as he gets more familiarised with the club and the league’s style of play, he’ll improve further – it’s likely that his best is yet to come.