Tottenham preview, picks, predictions: Harry Kane leaves Spurs as Richarlison, Heung-Min Son must replace him

Spurs have quite a few questions but none bigger than how to replace their club legend

By Chuck Booth

Aug 12, 2023 at 9:10 am ET • 3 min read

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It's the beginning of a new era at Tottenham as Ange Postecoglou has taken over as manager and Harry Kane is no longer there after securing a $110 million move to Bayern Munich. At the surface, it would seem like Spurs have fully committed to a rebuild for a new manager except that they're now sold that manager's best player only 48 hours before the new season gets underway. With Richarlison and Heung-Min Son in the squad, there are players who can deputize as strikers while the club figure out who Kane's eventual replacement will be but it's certainly not optimal when they've had years to prepare for this moment.

Gift Orban and Brennan Johnson are names who have been rumored to join as a backup to groom for the position but that will put a lot of pressure on new signing James Maddison in the center of the park. Joining from Leicester City, Maddison will get the keys to the attack to replace half of what Kane brought to the table. Tottenham's best creator and goal scorer, Kane is an irreplaceable player but with the system change under Postecoglou, there is room for Spurs to score quite a few goals without him.

It's a natural cycle for a team to sell their best player and rebuild but leaving things so late is where it's tough. Even a new captain will be needed as Hugo Lloris is set to depart the club but Postecoglu's beginning feels a bit like that of Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs. The beginning will be tough but once discipline and a system are instilled, the club can flourish.

After running through Jose Mourinho, Ryan Mason (twice), Nuno Espirito Santo, Antonio Conte, and Cristian Stellini since 2019, the last thing that Spurs can afford is not giving Postecoglou more than a season to see if things work. Life is short for managers in the Premier League but Postecoglu himself has stated that the beginning of instilling his system is hard for players to adjust to.

Based on pressing, quick ball movements, and positional awareness, things can fall apart if one player isn't aware of their role and this will be especially true with him integrating an entirely new backline. Micky van de Ven has joined from Wolfsburg, Pedro Porro will enter his first full season with the club, Destiney Udogie has returned from his loan at Udinese and even Sergio Reguilon is back in the mix after a loan to Atletico Madrid. All happening in front of new keeper Guglielmo Vicario.

With this much change, things can get ugly but one thing that Spurs have done is dropped the average age of the squad drastically. Maddison and Vicaro are the only new members of the team older than 25 meaning that Spurs will create a new window for success if even half of these moves hit. There's a clear identity being built with the adds and even young talents like Alejo Veliz and Ashley Phillips have been added too.

Chasing unreachable trophies, the youth that helped build Tottenham into the club that it is became an afterthought so these moves feel like a return to basics. It may not work but this is more of a plan than Tottenham have had for years which makes the summer so refreshing even with the end likely seeing a club legend depart.

Expectations are low with the team not in Europe and also not likely contenders for a top-six place in the table but that can be a good thing when pressure has been heaped on everyone to compete for unattainable honors. Building back from the ground up, there's even a chance that Spurs could win a cup due to other teams having competing priorities but that would just be a cherry on top as long as there's progress this season.