Is Lisandro Lopez the Soldado backup plan?

All the usual caveats here: This is the Mirror and there are no quotes or even anonymous sources cited, so take this with an entire salt mine. Okay, that's out of the way. The Mirror are reporting that Lisandro Lopez is next up on Franco Baldini's list if Tottenham Hotspur fail to sign Roberto Soldado from Valencia. The 30-year-old striker has one year remaining on his contract at Olympique Lyonnais and would be considerably cheaper than Soldado.

While I don't love the idea of signing Lopez -- as I mentioned, he's 30 -- we could do a whole lot worse for a backup plan to our backup plan to our backup plan. He's been outrageously consistent for a decade, consistently turning in good seasons. His 11 goals in 31 league games were a career low for him in a Lyon shirt, which could be a signal of physical decline, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt if our management is. He also does a lot more than just score and is very good technically.

I'd really like for us to just sign Soldado so we don't have to go down this road, but Lopez is a competent striker with a solid scoring record and he's more than just a poacher. He's fine. He'd help the team. I don't believe this rumor for a second, but I'll nod and smile if it comes to fruition.