View: Tottenham should replace Harry Kane with wonderkid from Bayern Munich
If Tottenham are going to be forced to replace record goalscorer Harry Kane anytime soon, hitting the reset button and going for a young striker could be their best option.
Kane will be near impossible to replace and whoever attempts to fill those enormous boots will be doing so under an incredible amount of pressure from Spurs supporters.
When your club’s academy produces one of the best strikers in the world and the best strikers that the Premier League has ever seen, no player who comes in to replace them is going to seem good enough.
But Tottenham fans will need to remain patient in their hunt to replace the England captain and give their new number nine time to adapt and make mistakes. After all, it took Kane multiple loans and time before he got things right.
That is why going back to basics and looking to build around a young striker who can develop might be the club’s best solution, rather than looking for a quick fix, and there are few better young forwards around than Mathys Tel.
Tel is an 18-year-old sensation currently playing for Bayern Munich and with the ongoing links between the German champions and Kane, the young French forward’s name has now been mentioned.
As reported online by The Guardian (28 July), Spurs are interested in the attacking star, and despite Thomas Tuchel wanting to keep hold of the talented prospect, he has admitted that this could change late in the transfer window.
Of course, there are no guarantees that any such move is possible but if Kane is ready to move on from North London and Tel could be convinced to swap the Bundesliga for the Premier League, the stats suggest it would be an amazing move.
Tel is a very different type of striker to Kane with the 18-year-old possessing the ability to play out wide as well as through the middle and he could offer brand new Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou a very different option going forward.
Despite appearing 22 times in the Bundesliga, the former Rennes man only started once and played only 417 minutes of top-flight football last season, but still managed to score five times, which is a goal every 83.4 minutes.
And as per fbref, Tel has posted some incredible numbers over the past calendar year. Compared to his positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues, the forward was in the top three per cent for the number of shots he took (4.32 per 90) and the top two per cent for the number of those shots which were on target (1.92 per 90).
In terms of passing, his numbers are also just as promising. He was in the top 10 per cent compared to other forwards across the continent for the number of passes he attempted (32.51 per 90), the amount of those passes he completed (25.78 per 90), his pass completion rate (79.3 per cent) and his total passing distance (381.78 yards per 90).
His numbers in possession demonstrate that he is extremely bright and always looking to get forward, something which Postecoglou appreciates and requires from his attacking players. Tel was in the top four per cent for the number of touches made in the attacking third (27.06 per 90) and the number of touches made in the opposition box (7.37 per 90).
And with the ball at his feet, he is just as dangerous. For take-ons attempted, the French Under 19 international was in the top four per cent of European forwards once again (5.12 per 90) and often successful with those take-ons, ranking in the top nine per cent (1.60 per 90).
Finally, Tel is in the top five per cent for the number of carries (33.95 per 90), progressive carries (3.20 per 90) and carries into the penalty area (1.60 per 90) he made.
The young striker’s mobility and ability to carry the ball forward and take his man on could make him the perfect fit for Postecoglou’s high-energy, attacking style of play and considering he is still just 18, the numbers he is already putting up are frightening.
While there will never be a player to replace Kane, if Tel continues his development on the path he is currently on, he might not be far off when all is said and done.
In other Tottenham News, Ryan Sessegnon could be facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines once again.