Louis Saha has admitted that he does not envy the position Richarlison finds himself in at the moment, pointing out that Harry Kane was always going to be a hard act to follow.
Richarlison was largely written off as a flop by pundits and even some Spurs fans just a few months ago but the Brazilian has shown since returning from his injury in December just why the Lilywhites paid £60m to secure him from Everton.
While there has never been doubt over the 26-year-old’s work rate and his ability to press from the front, which is arguably why Ange Postecoglou has continued to show faith in him, the striker has shown over the last couple of months that he can be deadly in front of goal.
The former Everton man has now taken his goal tally to 11 strikes across all competitions and looks likely to finish well above the 15-goal mark this season.
However, it is fair to say that some Spurs fans are still not fully convinced by Richarlison and Saha believes that it is down to the fact that the Tottenham faithful have watched one of the best in the world, Kane, lead the line for the past decade.
Can Richarlison replace Harry Kane long-term?
When asked if Richarlison can be Spurs’ main striker over the long term, the Frenchman told Betting Odds: “That’s the problem, when you come after Harry Kane you will be in trouble. I have seen this for example with Olivier Giroud. Top striker, one of the best, but comes after Thierry Henry and that’s the problem.
“Now when you have a different kind of style, people always have the easy road in their head and say ‘oh but he’s not like Harry Kane, he’s not doing the same’ that’s difficult. That’s the situation that Richarlison needs to answer.
“I think he’s got the quality to do that, sometimes he’s a bit like that player who has his style and will stick to it where he has to improve, he has to learn, he has to be wishing to do some stuff for the team like Son and other players can really benefit from.
“That’s the angle the manager is trying, but that’s not something that comes in three months, it’s really tough. It’s really hard because Harry Kane was such a big player, capable of fixing the midfield when the midfield were weak and fixing the problems by scoring goals where those players were not playing well, or playing well and you need to finish.
“So this guy was such an immense player for Tottenham that if you have a player who is really good at coming to the ball and not a real finisher like Harry Kane was, you’re always going to feel like he’s not playing well.
“He’s doing his thing, but he hasn’t been recognised as being a top, top scorer. He’s not a goalscorer. He can score goals, but he’s not a goalscorer, he’s not a machine in front of goal.
“He has to still have his ratio of one in four, something like this, where Harry was one in two or maybe even one in one, so it’s a hard job. I think that the manager may have to think about competition or a different style to really compliment Son.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I think most Spurs fans recognise that Kane was a once-in-a-generation player and we are not going to see the likes of him again for a long time. It would be unfair to compare Richarlison to the England captain as the Brazilian is a completely different kind of player.
While the 26-year-old has shown that he is good enough to lead the line for Tottenham, Postecoglou would likely want to bring in another centre-forward to compete with him in the summer.
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