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Italian media outlet Calciomercato reported back in March that Tottenham Hotspur were one of the Premier League clubs interested in signing Valencia striker Rodrigo during the summer transfer window following his impressive form for the La Liga outfit.

It was clear to see for many that the north London outfit needed to find a reliable back-up to Harry Kane for the current season with Fernando Llorente struggling as Vincent Janssen had before him, and Rodrigo seemed like a viable option having netted 19 goals in 44 appearances in all competitions for his club last term.

Despite a quieter start to the campaign for the 27-year-old this time around – he has only found the net once in nine outings in total for Valencia – he was handed a start up top for Spain in their UEFA Nations League clash against England in Betis on Monday night.

The 2010 world champions were the favourites going into the game having beaten their opponents 2-1 at Wembley last month, but they were shocked by Gareth Southgate’s side who scored three first-half goals to take a convincing 3-0 lead into half-time.

Rodrigo was certainly on the periphery of the match as shown by his statistics against the Three Lions, in which he failed to have a single shot on target (he only had one shot in 72 minutes on the pitch), didn’t win an aerial duel and didn’t complete a single dribble or cross, as per WhoScored.

21 touches in 72 minutes summed up the 27-year-old’s night, even though he was perhaps unfortunate not to win a penalty when he dispossessed Jordan Pickford following some over-elaborate play before the Everton goalkeeper recovered with a brilliant tackle – albeit with what looked like a tug on the forward’s shirt.

Overall though, there was little to suggest that the one-time Bolton Wanderers loanee has what it takes to challenge Kane at Tottenham, and they should be relieved that they didn’t splash out on bringing him in during the summer.

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