Consent Preferences Spurs Odyssey - Harry Kane: Striker’s injury should see Tottenham Hotspur dip into the transfer market (17.01.2019)
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Harry Kane's Injury

Harry Kane: Striker’s injury should see Tottenham Hotspur dip into the transfer market

Harry Kane

Not only did Tottenham Hotspur lose vital ground in the title race with defeat to Manchester United on Sunday, star man Harry Kane has been ruled out until early March with an ankle injury.

The striker could barely walk off the pitch at the end of the 1-0 loss, after a coming together with Phil Jones and Victor Lindelof saw Kane come off worse.

The news will come as a huge blow to Spurs, who are still fighting on four fronts with the games coming thick and fast.

Extent of the injury

As reported by BBC Sport, Kane has damaged his ankle ligaments and will rest up for the around six weeks before returning to light training in March, once the swelling has gone down. It’s the third ankle injury Kane has suffered in as many seasons, and the England striker will be hoping it is not the start of more serious issues.

Despite having treatment on the pitch, Kane was not moving comfortably at all and the initial signs suggested a lengthy lay off. For manager Mauricio Pochettino, the injury setback will certainly tarnish his aspirations of landing his first-ever trophy with Spurs.

Although the North Londoners can rely upon Fernando Llorente, the Spaniard is past his best and despite his hat-trick at Tranmere Rovers, he isn’t in the same class as Kane.

After missing 11 games in 2016 owing to a similar injury, it’s likely that Kane will miss up to four Premier League games, the FA Cup tie with Crystal Palace and the second leg of the League Cup semi-final with Chelsea. More notably, he’ll miss both Champions League games against Borussia Dortmund in February.

Ferrnando Llorente

Pochettino’s alternatives

As previously touched on, Llorente will be the natural choice to fill the void left by Kane. Although there has been reported interest in the 33-year-old from his former employers, Pochettino will need to keep his whole squad intact during this crucial period.

Heung-min Son is away with South Korea at the 2019 Asian Cup, and is set to miss a number of games depending on how far they go. Although this isn’t unusual for Spurs to lose Son on a temporary basis, the timing couldn’t be any worse in relation to Kane’s injury.

Vincent Janssen has failed to establish himself under Pochettino so the Lilywhites are fairly thin on options up top, leaving a potential January addition the only viable option to sustain themselves on all four fronts.

Signing quality players in January is notoriously difficult, but it puts Pochettino in a catch 22 as he’ll need to invest now on someone who will likely cost much more than their market value. Alternatively, the former Southampton boss can try and persevere with the likes of Llorente and Lucas Moura but if results start to go against Spurs, fans will question why they didn’t try and sign a replacement.

No matter what happens, Pochettino has a lot to consider right now and he’ll need to decide what the most viable option is knowing Kane should be back by mid-March. Any potential signing will have to understand that they will be behind Kane in the pecking order upon his return, which limits the number of quality options Pochettino can look at. The Lilywhites are next in action against Fulham on Sunday, and you can place bets on Premier League on Betfair now ahead of the London derby.

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