Daniel Levy has already been looking into a potential replacement for Harry Kane as his Spurs future has been thrown into uncertainty this week…
What’s the word?
That’s the latest claim from the Daily Mail, who suggest that the Lilywhites chairman has been planning ahead for several weeks now after the 27-year-old talisman told the club that he wants to leave this summer.
It is thought that the North London giants have also identified players they may be able to take in a part-exchange swap deal for Kane, and the name of Manchester United striker Anthony Martial has cropped up.
Should Spurs swap Kane for Martial and £50m+
YES!
NO!
Given the Lilywhites value their leading talisman at £150m, cash, as well as a player, will likely have to be parted with.
Both Manchester teams are said to be interested but Levy is keen not to do business with either.
A perfect replacement?
Spurs are going to be in for one long summer of speculation, and potentially turmoil, if Kane does leave N17, but Levy can make life easier by signing someone like Martial.
It’s evident that Spurs’ squad is in need of a major overhaul as many of the players still remain from Mauricio Pochettino’s time at the club, and those very stars are the same ones that saw Jose Mourinho out the door.
If Levy is to drastically change things, then selling Kane may be the only way to raise enough funds to do so.
Although getting a player in return, along with a much-needed cash injection, could genuinely be a masterstroke as he’ll be getting a perfect replacement, too.
Valued at £45m by Transfermarkt, Martial has endured a tough campaign that has been blighted by a serious knee injury. He has directly contributed to 16 goals in 36 appearances, which is more than anyone not called Kane or Heung-min Son in North London.
His versatility to play out wide is another intriguing aspect to his game but his best-ever season came as United’s first-choice no.9, where he provided a whopping 23 goals and ten assists in 44 matches in the role during the 2019/20 campaign, as per Transfermarkt.
Former teammate and ex-Spurs man Michael Carrick believes that the frontman is “unplayable” on his day and that’s the sort of phrase you’d attribute to Kane.
Overall, Martial has managed a goal or assist every 134 minutes in the Premier League since arriving in 2015, so it’s no wonder he’s also been lauded as a “beast of a player” as well as an “exceptional talent.”
By comparison, the Spurs superstar sits at a direct goal contribution once every 99 minutes in that same time frame, so he’s not as far off as you might think, especially when he has played out wide more than Kane, too.
Of course, the England international is as irreplaceable as they come but given Martial’s top-flight experience, proven goalscoring record and Tottenham’s likely need to fill a void, there cannot be many better options out there.
For now, he’d be about as perfect a realistic replacement for Kane that Spurs could hope to get – whether it can actually happen or not, only time will tell.
AND in other news, Time to go: Levy must axe shocking £75k-p/w dud, he must never play for Spurs again…