Tottenham may be forced to buy a striker in January

Tottenham’s injury crisis may be reaching a boiling point. Harry Kane’s injury against Manchester United may push the Spurs into the transfer market.

It’s very possible Tottenham lost more than three points against Manchester United on Sunday. An ugly last-minute challenge by Victor Lindelof on Harry Kane may put the England striker on the shelf for a considerable amount of time. That, coupled with Heung-Min Son’s impending departure for international duty could push Daniel Levy to make a big attacking purchase in January.

Pochettino was quite open about his concerns about Kane after the disappointing 1-0 loss at Wembley. He openly told the media that losing Kane could give be a “massive” blow to his squad. The Argentine gaffer was quick to point out there was nothing intentional about Lindelof’s challenge, but it was still a “bad” tackle in his estimation.

Tottenham officials will hope scans on Monday reveal minimal damage to Kane’s ankle, but any sort of lengthy spell on the bench could torpedo Spurs’ hopes to mount a credible challenge on the Premier League title. Perhaps more importantly, it could scupper any hopes Pochettino and company have of ending the club’s lengthy silverware drought.

In the absence of Kane and Son, Fernando Llorente might be called upon to lead Tottenham’s line. That’s clearly not an ideal solution. The venerable Spaniard has been strongly linked with a move back to Bilbao in January. The injury to Kane likely means he’ll play out the last months of his contract with Spurs.

Some fans might believe these circumstances can provide Vincent Janssen a route back into the first time but Pochettino dismissed that idea entirely on Sunday. He was adamant the striker is not anywhere in his plans.

The most obvious, and expensive, solution for Tottenham will be to jump into the transfer market to find a centre forward capable of filling in for Kane. Ideally, Spurs would find a young forward willing to serve as Kane’s backup once he regains complete fitness. That’s a difficult needle to thread, but its high time Tottenham get it right. Relying on Kane as the only quality striking option isn’t something a club with Champions League aspirations should do.

As such, you can expect to see Spurs linked with several strikers in the coming days. Whether or not Levy is willing to spend the money required to bring in a quality player is still up for debate. Pochettino needs to push the club to invest sound money at the striker position.