Tottenham’s Carlos Vinicius wins Europa League Player of the Week

Tottenham Hotspur had an easy time with Ludogorets yesterday in Europa League action, and few had a better match than Spurs’ new backup striker Carlos Vinicius. Vinigol scored a brace in yesterday’s 4-0 win, and also tallied an assist for Lucas Moura’s goal in the second half. His excellent and composed performance earned him another honor — the Europa League Player of the Week award.

It’s great to see Vinicius establish himself and play well for Spurs, even if it’s with a Tottenham B-side against D-level competition. There have been reports that have suggested that Carlos has had some difficulties adjusting to life in London due to language (he doesn’t yet speak much English) and just general adaptation issues. It could be why we haven’t seen much of him in the Premier League yet.

Though, for the most part he’s looked bright and involved in the matches we’ve seen him play, and you can’t argue with the results — two goals and an assist are a pretty good haul. That’s already as many as Vincent Janssen (sob) scored in his entire Tottenham tenure.

Vinicius is shaping up like he could be a solid backup for Harry Kane, should he ever be called upon. Losing Kane for any reason would suck, but Vini at least looks like he can do a job if needed. And just having a striker who’s able to score goals in the Europa League against bad teams is a blessing — neither Harry Kane nor Son Heung-Min left the bench against Ludogorets on Thursday, saving their legs for the more important league match against Chelsea this weekend. You can’t put a price on that.