That’s one way to shut people up. Don’t score enough goals for £85million? Score one 11 minutes after coming on to the pitch. Don’t create enough? Grab an assist three minutes later. As debut cameos go, Savio and Roberto De Zerbi could have asked for little more.

’Savio is a player who brings energy, imagination and quality in wide positions,’ declared the Tottenham Hotspur boss earlier this week. ‘He has the courage to attack defenders and the ability to change a game with his creativity.’

The sceptics in the Spurs fanbase may have been tempted, amid the excitement of a monster double deal for a Manchester City duo alongside Omar Marmoush, to question whether a return of two goals in 53 Premier League games was quite the £85million worth of bravery and game-changing ability that will stop them finishing 17th for a third consecutive season.

Of course his output for City does not, on the face of it, warrant the figure paid. And nor does, let’s be honest, a goal and an assist in the League Cup against Charlton’s leggy stiffs.

But for 19 minutes last night, there was a player who made Spurs fans remember what it’s like to feel excited again, with flashes of exactly why De Zerbi wanted Savio. The Spurs boss likes his wingers to stay high and wide, so when his defenders have baited and broken the press, his wide men can pin opponents back and isolate the full-backs.

That is where Savio is at his best. For all the drawbacks (and we’ll get to those), he is very good in one-on-one situations. His goal on debut came that way. Ball at his feet, just Charlton full-back Nathan Asiimwe ahead of him. He drove at Asiimwe, cut inside past him, and fired home.

Since his Premier League debut at the start of the 2024-25 season, among forwards to have played 1,500 minutes, only City team-mate Jeremy Doku (5.2) and sprinter-with-boots-on Adama Traore (2.5) complete more dribbles past an opponent per 90 minutes than Savio (2.4). Only Doku (20.6) averages more progressive carries (a dribble that moves the ball at least five metres towards goal) than Savio (13.9). The new Spurs hero managed four against Charlton.

Savio’s dribble map below shows just how frequently he takes on his man (red dots on the graphic below are failed dribbles, blue are completed). It also shows his versatility, able to play on both flanks. For City, he often cut inside when starting on the right. He’s only 22, too, remember. There is plenty of room for improvement.

After this brightest of beginnings, it will be down to whether he can sustain it. Savio shone in his early days at City, providing three assists in his opening four games and set up a hat-trick of goals against West Ham in January 2025. He frequently beat his man out wide and got his cross into the box or even carried the ball centrally before slipping in Erling Haaland through the middle.

In his first season, his eight assists from open play was bettered by only five players: Mohamed Salah (18), Jacob Murphy (11), Morgan Rogers (ten), Antonee Robinson (ten) and Son Heung-min (nine).

His influence faded last season, though, starting just seven league games in Pep Guardiola’s final campaign, scoring just once and setting up only one goal.

Spurs need goals. They scored just 48 in the Premier League last season, fewer than Leeds and the same as Nottingham Forest. Eighteen of them came from corners, making up nearly 40 per cent of all their goals, by far the highest ratio in the division. They need some magic in open play. De Zerbi hopes Savio can keep providing it.

That ability to find the net, more than anything, is what has let Savio down in the past. His record of two goals in 28 league starts has been the biggest stick with which critics are beating him.

Since his debut, that’s the same number of goals – from nine more starts – as Traore. He’s a dribbling machine, too, but won’t cost you £85million. In that time, Harry Wilson scored 16 goals and provided eight assists for Fulham and joined Leeds this summer on a free transfer.

It’s not as though Savio didn’t get the chances either. From the opportunities he had, his Expected Goals (xG) figure was more than seven. Since his debut in the Premier League, he’s among the top five for largest underperformance of xG.

If you thought that was bad, his two goals came from 75 shots. Of all forwards to play 1,500 minutes in the league since Savio’s shot conversion was the lowest of them all at just 2.67 per cent. Hardly what you want for £85million.

Viktor Gyokeres, Junior Kroupi, Nick Woltemade, Igor Thiago and Chris Wood are all above 25 per cent. Haaland is around 20 per cent. Unfortunately for De Zerbi, another Spurs winger in Wilson Odobert ranked fourth-worst (and last season's loanee Randal Kolo Muani was two spots behind).

Against Charlton, he had two shots and both of them went in, the second via a slight deflection off Ben Davies. It was the perfect start. But it was still just that. A start. For £85million, it needs to continue.