Savio and an electric cameo that thrilled Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur pursued Savio for 12 months. It took him less than 10 minutes to demonstrate why they paid up to £85million to finally sign him from Manchester City.

The Brazilian was named on the bench for Spurs’ 5-1 victory over Charlton Athletic in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening which earned them an away tie against Liverpool in the third round. The first 70 minutes belonged to Mikey Moore, the academy graduate who might leave on loan following Savio’s arrival. Moore opened the scoring with a fantastic left-footed shot from just inside the box and won the free-kick which led to Kevin Danso’s goal with a clever nutmeg on Ivan Mesik.

Unfortunately for the 19-year-old, all anybody was talking about at full-time was Savio’s electric cameo. Having replaced Dominic Solanke in the 71st minute, Savio’s first involvement was to play a crisp one-two with Pedro Porro which led to a good opportunity for Mathys Tel. He then dribbled out of play before being shrugged off the ball in the space of a couple of minutes. It looked like he would need time to adjust to his new team-mates and De Zerbi’s demands. Nobody was prepared for what happened next.

Savio received the ball on the right wing, cut inside and stepped past two defenders before drilling a left-footed shot into the bottom corner. He darted towards the fans in the South Stand and slid on his knees while making a talking gesture with his hands. Maybe it was a dig at the critics claiming Spurs have overpaid for a winger who only scored two goals in 53 Premier League appearances for Man City. It is the third biggest transfer fee in Tottenham’s history following their signings of Mateus Fernandes and Sandro Tonali earlier this summer.

Savio played with even more freedom after scoring for the first time since City’s 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace in May. Savio picked up possession near the touchline and instead of making a simple pass to Fernandes, he tricked Mesik and Rob Apter with a dummy before spinning the ball with the outside of his left foot for the overlapping Pedro Porro.

Savio embarrassed Charlton’s defenders again shortly afterwards. The ball dropped to him in the box and he shaped to shoot with his right foot before flicking it back onto his left. Nathan Assimwe dropped to the floor as his body twisted and contorted in a feeble attempt to keep up with Savio’s dancing feet. The winger’s shot took a deflection off Ben Davies but the crowd did not realise.

Savio’s shot was deflected off Ben Davies for Spurs’ fifth goal (James Fearn/Getty Images)

Savio dropped to the floor in disbelief and then jumped up to lift the corner flag in front of the fans. Porro broke the news to Savio that it was actually Davies’ goal. Savio jokingly waved his hand in protest before hugging Davies.

At full-time, Savio blew a few kisses to the box where his wife, young daughter, brother and mother were sitting alongside Xavi Simons, who is likely to miss the rest of 2026 with an anterior cruciate ligament injury but has a strong bond with Savio from their time together at PSV during the 2022-23 season. Xavi spoke to Savio throughout the summer to convince him Spurs was the right step for his career.

It was the perfect introduction but Spurs have not spent a huge amount of money on Savio so he can tear apart lower league opponents. He will be judged on his ability to perform in the Premier League and, hopefully from next season, in Europe.

“His biggest step and biggest improvement is to increase the number of goals because (with) his qualities he is one of the best wingers,” De Zerbi told reporters after the game. “But the best wingers score many goals. I spoke with him: we put the (target) on 10-12 goals because we need 10-12 goals from the wingers. Last season, I think we suffered too much. Also because the number of goals were not enough to compete for nothing more than that position (17th).”

Richarlison was Tottenham’s top goalscorer last season with 11 and Joao Palhinha, who left at the end of his loan spell from Bayern Munich, was next on five. Mohammed Kudus, Tel, Xavi, Solanke and Brennan Johnson, before he moved to Crystal Palace in January, scored a combined total of 13 league goals. In the most productive season of his career, Savio scored nine goals in 37 appearances for Girona in 2023-24. It will be a challenge to reach double figures this season.

Savio has already made himself popular with Tottenham fans (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

There is something slightly bittersweet about Savio stealing the limelight from Moore. The teenager wasted three good opportunities to score in last weekend’s 3-0 defeat to Brentford but he was playing out of position on the right wing. Moore tended to operate on the left or through the middle in the academy, with Rangers and England’s youth teams.

He started on the right against Charlton and grew in confidence after scoring. He kept gliding past defenders and drilling crosses into the box.

Supporters are understandably excited about the amount of money Spurs have spent on new signings this summer but the fear is that the pathway for Moore and Luca Williams-Barnett, who came off the bench in the 77th minute, is being blocked. Moore was close to joining Koln on loan earlier in the window but had to stay because of the lack of forward options. With Savio and Omar Marmoush’s expected arrival, his future now seems unclear.

“It is important for him, it is important for us because he is our player from the academy and we have to understand what the best solution is,” De Zerbi said. “I would like to keep him because he is young but a good player. But we can’t (make) the wrong decision because he needs to play and put games inside of him.”

Savio deserves to soak up the applause but Moore should not be forgotten.