Harry Kane Departure Might Have Helped Tottenham This Season

The mood within the Tottenham Hotspur support was dark before the start of the 2023/24 season. The North London club has suffered a dismal 2022/23 campaign and lost its best player – Harry Kane – over the summer transfer window. Most expected Ange Postecoglou’s appointment to represent the start of a long and painful rebuild.

Indeed, Spurs have hit the ground running under Postecoglou. They are setting the pace at the top of the Premier
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League, leading some supporters to question whether their team could mount an unexpected title challenge. Meanwhile, Kane watches on from Germany as a Bayern Munich player.

There is a cruel irony to Tottenham’s resurgence following Kane’s departure. The centre forward always wanted to experience success at the club and more than did his bit to keep Spurs competition at the elite level. Ultimately, though, Kane decided he could only win trophies away from North London.

That belief is now being questioned by the start Spurs have made to the season. Postecoglou’s methods and ideas have been quickly absorbed by the squad he inherited. It’s not just results that have improved, but the style of play which has re-energised a fanbase that had fallen out of love with its club last season.

Kane might not have been a good fit for Postecoglou’s approach. While the 30-year-old is proven as one of the best centre forwards of his generation and possibly the best English striker of all-time given his scoring record, Postecoglou would have needed to adapt his game plan to fit Kane into his team.

James Maddison has thrived as Tottenham’s new attacking midfielder this season. He is the link between the midfield and attack with the former Leicester City playmaker given the freedom to drift. With Kane in the team, Maddison wouldn’t have that same freedom to drift – see when the pair play together for England.

Postecoglou’s system also needs a centre forward who can get in behind and stretch the pitch to work to its full potential. Son Heung-min has been this figure for Tottenham this season with the South Korean international giving the North London outfit some much-needed verticality in the attacking third of the pitch.

Kane would have been an excellent final third conductor for Tottenham under Postecoglou, but he wouldn’t have stretched in behind like Son does on a regular basis. This would have changed the character of Spurs as a team. They are a purer Postecoglou team now that Kane is at Bayern Munich and maybe even a better team as a whole.