The Kane conundrum: English striker’s quarantine forces Mourinho to experiment in pre-season

Tottenham’s number nine. The England captain. The inevitable injury in the New Year after he’s been pushed too hard all season.

Spurs’ handling of Harry Kane has been a talking point for a number of seasons, especially now the ‘one season wonder’ claims seem to have all but vanished.

Attempts have been made to give Kane support. Mauricio Pochettino felt Vincent Janssen presented an option to play alongside or instead of the Englishman, but that experiment failed to yield prosperous results with the Dutchman eventually departing in 2019.

Fernando Llorente presented a solid, dependable if unspectacular back-up, the World Cup winning striker proving crucial in Spurs’ Champions League run last season. But he has never going to be the long-term fix.

After a long season yet again, in which Kane missed eight games between January and March with a thigh muscle injury, the striker set off for holiday in the Bahamas.

Despite the nation not falling within UK quarantine measure when travelling, changes meant Kane has now been forced to quarantine at home upon his return, consequently ruling him out of Saturday’s pre-season fixture against Ipswich.

This presents an interesting conundrum for Jose Mourinho.

Constantly linked with strikers this summer, Troy Deeney, Callum Wilson and Arkadiusz Milik to name three, the Portuguese coach now is forced to trial his current options. 

Albeit against lower league opposition, the decisions he makes in terms of his starting line-up for tomorrow’s fixture will intrigue plenty of Spurs fans.

Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura would present the most obvious candidates for the role, promising Ireland international Troy Parrott’s loan to Millwall denying him the opportunity.

Mourinho opted for a two up top against Arsenal later in the season as Son accompanied Kane. It feels unlikely that he would opt for a similar tactic when pairing Son with Moura.

It’s no doubt that rotation will be necessary for Tottenham next season.

The third and fourth rounds of the Carabao Cup look set to clash with Spurs’ quest through the Europa League qualifying round, potentially forcing them to play two within 48 hours on two separate occasions.

Hence the reason why fans of the north London club are desperate for cover. The recent announcement of Gonzalo Higuain’s contract termination at Juventus would provide an interesting solution.

The Argentine worked under Mourinho at Real Madrid with the 32-year-old linked to Manchester United and Chelsea whilst the Portuguese coach was in charge.

With plenty of fixtures to be shared amongst the striking continent, Higuain may relish the task to work under his former coach and be satisfied with being the back-up to Kane.

Despite plenty of changes likely to be made in the first game back of pre-season, the lack of young striker to throw into the line-up will make Jose’s striking decision an intriguing one.

When the notification bell rings to announce the team news, the striker position will be the first one to look for.