Opinion: An alternative Spurs – Six potential positives to a Harry Kane sale

With many reporting that Tottenham continue to maintain that Harry Kane is not for sale this summer, the obvious feeling to this would be brilliant.

An absolute fan favourite, a world-class finisher, the ultimate professional and for me (and 99.9% of Spurs fans) the best out-and-out number 9 in the world right now.

As the fans chant, he is one of our own and we should be proud that he walks out every week in Lilywhite.

When asked at the back end of last season how I personally feel about Harry Kane leaving Tottenham Hotspur I immediately thought:

  • How will we find 30+ goals a season and more recently a double-figure assist tally?
  • Our star man/poster boy leaves the club – will others follow?
  • Does this massively set-back any sign of Tottenham competing again at the highest level?
  • Seeing Kane at another team – especially in the Premier League would be hard to accept.

Again, most probably the same concerns I feared that most, if not all, Spurs fans would automatically think when asked how they feel about Kane departing this summer.

As the final two weeks of the 20/21 season ran down heading into the start of the summer, a video appeared online of Harry Kane and Gary Neville discussing Harry’s career and his short-term future.

Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City, Daniel Levy and £100m were all mentioned at some point in the interview.

Within days of this interview, it was widely reported that Harry Kane would like to leave the club, with a further story breaking that Tottenham had rejected an offer of £100m from Manchester City (Sky Sports).

This got me thinking – Okay if Harry Kane was to actually leave the club this summer what would the flip side be for Tottenham Hotspur and the Spurs faithful?

What snippets of positivity could we actually salvage from a situation we all do not want to see happen as Spurs fans who adore Harry?

  1. Transfer fee:

Daniel Levy will play hardball with any potential buyers for our talisman. For me, nothing less than £120m up to as much as £150/160m. (Maybe slightly less) if players are used in exchange like what was rumoured with Man City’s “test the water bid” before the Euro kicked off (The Guardian).

A huge sum of money like this could finance the start of a major rebuild at Tottenham which is long overdue. The very rebuild that Mauricio Pochettino warned us about back in 2019.

I accept that the money would need to be spent wisely (alarm bells to us Spurs fans) but this could be used to fill some very deep cracks within the squad – a full back, a centre back and a creative midfielder to name a few.

This squad needs a reset and historically Spurs fans know the powers from above are not going to flex any cash muscles to achieve this.

  1. New striker…MAYBE EVEN TWO:

Flashback to 2007 – Spurs had FOUR strikers. Robbie Keane, Jermain Defoe, Dimitar Berbatov and Mido, all fighting and pushing each other to new levels to earn a starting spot up top.

We had some great times watching them four in action especially the slick and efficient partnership of Keano and Berba.

I know football has changed and squads nowadays do not have four actual strikers in their squad but from 2015 to present, I for one have been frustrated that since Harry Kane has been our top marksman and rightly the first choice centre forward, we have failed to buy another striker of real quality to compete, push or even displace Kane.

Every season we rely on Harry and grimace at any sign of a tweak or heavy tackle on him in case we lose him for a few weeks through injury leaving us no adequate cover or replacement.

Any credible striker over the years with real class did not come to N17 to sit and play second fiddle to Harry Kane. This could all change with Harry Kane departing.

We could then bring in a quality striker maybe even TWO to lead the line and be able to play together or cover each other when required.

I know you cannot replace Harry Kane like for like due to his superb quality and level of finishing but on the flip side bringing in a proven goal scorer or two like a Danny Ings to play with Sonny could also be quite exciting.

I would really love to see Tottenham Hotspur with two quality marksmen in the squad. It feels like forever since we last did.

I do accept Sonny is seen as a second striker and we also have a brilliant talent like Dane Scarlett coming through the ranks and he will no doubt push new strikers at Tottenham in the very near future.

  1. Does Harry Kane want to leave:

Only he and the board know this for sure. It does appear to me that Kane wants out. The last thing we need under the arriving Nuno Espirito Santo are players who do not want to be there.

If Harry Kane does not want to be part of Nuno’s reign and feels his future lies away from North London, then it’s maybe the best decision for all parties (Pains me to say).

Harry Kane no doubt deserves to be winning the biggest trophies. Sadly we probably all agree that our board are not currently ambitious enough to invest good money in building this team around the England captain to capture big domestic and European honours at Spurs.

  1. Heung-Min Son:

What a player. No doubt Sonny and Harry Kane have been superb together. This past season despite several low points, one high point was the dynamite partnership of Kane and Son.

Breaking Sutton and Shearer’s 13 goal combination from 1994-95 Son and Kane were on a different level last term. Sonny has deputised brilliantly for an injured Kane in the past. I have no problems at all that Sonny can still smash goals in for Spurs if Kane departed.

Sonny may even strike up a similar partnership with a new forward signing. He is very clever and adapts to different situations very well.

The South Korean is on the verge of a heavily linked new bumper contract at Spurs with the winger being a vital piece for Nuno if Harry Kane does depart (The Athletic).

  1. We need a Playmaker:

Again, it feels like an age since we had a prime Christian Eriksen pulling the strings and making things happen like no one else in the squad.

Most of the great performances at the end of our former home White Hart Lane and at our temporary Wembley home all centred around Eriksen and his control on the game.

Funds from a Harry Kane sale could also be used to recruit a player of this profile. We would be crying out for a player that racks up assists due to Kane basically playing duel roles of scorer and provider.

A new signing like this would not come cheap. Could we afford to buy such a player with Harry Kane still at the club? A Bruno Fernandes or Hakan Calhanoglu type of player would be perfect.

This type of player may also reignite Dele’s career at Spurs. Dele (if we remember) was a monster in midfield with a prime Christian Eriksen’s laser vision and inch-perfect deliveries.

  1. Injuries:

It has to be said Harry Kane does pick up injuries. I think the term “biscuit ankles” is a touch unfair, but I have to admit I expect Harry to be side-lined at least twice a season.

Not saying other strikers are injury-free but there are concerns about just how many more ankle injuries Harry can take before this becomes a very serious and lengthy time out for him.

Do these injuries actually hamper Kane from a move away to the likes of Manchester City for the price that Daniel Levy demands? Have Spurs already had the fittest version of Harry Kane when under Mauricio Pochettino?

Final thoughts – 

In summary, I would love to see Harry Kane stay, commit his future to Spurs and keep scoring goals for fun to inch closer or even topple Jimmy Greaves’s spectacular Spurs goal scoring record and for sure eclipse Alan Shearer’s famous Premier League goal haul.

No doubt Harry Kane is the best striker I have seen at Tottenham in my 30+ years as a fan. A truly world-class and elite player that I and all Spurs fans love to watch.

However, the increase in talk about a potential departure for Kane did drive me to think about the above points and what an alternative Tottenham could be like without him.

Me personally, I do not see Harry Kane retiring as a one-club man so I do feel we will have to cross this bridge eventually and think about a very different chapter for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

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