Tottenham have been linked with two Dutch strikers in recent weeks in the form of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Klass-Jan Huntelaar. With fourth choice striker Roman Pavlyuchenko seemingly out of favour with Spurs manager Harry Redknapp and wanting a move back to Russia, Tottenham will need to buy another forward in the January transfer window to keep competition for places high. Nistelrooy and Hunterlaar are two international quality strikers who are at different stages in their career, but are either of them right for Spurs and who would you rather see at White Hart Lane next year?

In Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch, Tottenham have three strikers who each offer something different to the team and Redknapp should be looking for a forward who complements those three. Nistelrooy and Huntelaar are both out and out goal scorers with prolific strike rates who would give Tottenham a potent threat up front and get the goals in the Premiership that are valued so highly. But with Nistelrooy nearing the end of his career and Huntelaar coming into his prime, surely one option looks much more attractive for Redknapp than the other.

No-one can argue with Ruud van Nistelrooy’s scoring record and he has been there and done it in the Premier League in the past with Manchester United. Wherever the Dutchman has gone in his career he has hit the net on a regular basis and continues to do so with Real Madrid in Spain. His strike rate in the Dutch Eredivisie, the English Premiership and Spain’s La Liga is much better than a goal every other game, and when you add that to his international record of 33 goals in 64 appearances, you can see why he represents an interesting proposition. But at the age of 33 and with injuries that have dogged him throughout his career starting to catch up with him, doesn’t Nistelrooy only offer a short-term option for Tottenham?

Klass-Jan Huntelaar is one of the most highly rated strikers in Europe and is now playing in Serie A after making his mark in Holland. Huntelaar’s first big move to Real Madrid proved unsuccessful and after only 6 months he moved on to AC Milan where he is again struggling to hit the back of the net. Upon being linked with a move to Spurs the Dutch striker quickly poured cold water on a possible switch insisting he wanted to stay in Italy. But Huntelaar, who has scored 14 times in 25 games for the Netherlands, won’t be happy kicking his heels on the bench at the San Siro in a World Cup year. However, would a striker who has largely struggled outside of Holland be a sound investment for Spurs?

Nistelrooy and Huntelaar would both bring goals to Tottenham but for me only one of them is a viable option. When you match up an aging, injury-prone striker against a forward who is desperate to secure a place in the Netherlands’ 2010 World Cup starting line-up and will be in his prime for many years to come, there is only one winner. Sure, it would be a risk to splash out over £10 million on a player who has struggled outside of Holland, but if Spurs are looking for a ‘fox in the box’, then Huntelaar is the better option and is a risk worth taking.