'Beautiful': Carlton Cole says Tottenham have a player who really reminds him of Hernan Crespo

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Dominic Solanke had big shoes to fill when he joined Tottenham in the summer.

Indeed, Solanke arrived as a club-record signing and as Harry Kane's long-term replacement, and that's a huge task.

Ange Postecoglou told Solanke how he'd fit into his system when he arrived at Tottenham, and, so far, it's been working ok.

Solanke has shown glimpses of brilliance, but, by-and-large, he has been inconsistent,

Speaking on the Joy of Football Podcast, Carlton Cole has praise Solanke as a player, claiming that his movement up front is beautiful and reminds him of Hernan Crespo when he was at Chelsea.

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Dominic Solanke reminds Carlton Cole of Hernan Crespo

Cole spoke highly of Solanke and the way he leads the line for Tottenham.

The pundit says that Solanke's movement actually reminds him of Argentina legend, Hernan Crespo.

"I loved Dom Solanke's movement the other night," Cole said.

"So I’ll tell you why. Because it reminded me of what I saw. And this is a game I watched from the stands. I was in the squad, Hernan Crespo, against West Ham at Upton Park. I think it was a 2004 or 2005 season.

"He’d gone in front of him, showed himself, then went behind him, then went in front of him like that again. Then the defender moved, then he went behind him, ball come in, goal. For me, that is. Those type of goals there, that is just beautiful for me when I’m looking at football. When I saw Dom Solanke half done what he’d done, I was like, that’s beautiful."

Dominic Solanke compared to Hernan Crespo

Crespo is known as a football legend, but the comparison to Solanke is interesting.

Indeed, Crespo and Solanke's records in the Premier League are interesting to compare.

Solanke does have a 19-goal season to his name, but Crespo's goal-to-game ratio is much greater.

That said, Crespo didn't play much football in England, and in his first half-season at Chelsea he did get 10 goals in 19 games, a very impressive return.

Crespo was eventually phased out at Chelsea, replaced by Didier Drogba, a striker Wayne Rooney said was perfect.

Of course, Crespo achieved so much in Italy that his CV is so much more impressive than Solanke's.

If Solanke can achieve half as much as Crespo did during his storied career, Spurs will have a star on their hands here, and, as Cole says, there are similarities in these two players' games.