Harry Kane has been Spurs’ talisman and top goal scorer for the past five seasons now – the love for him for both club and country is undeniable.
However, there are question marks surrounding the success of Tottenham with Kane compared to when he is not playing – according to Football BH’s statistics.
Looking at the Premier League in isolation, Kane played 27 matches last season of which Spurs won 16, drew one and lost 10 – a win percentage of 59% and an average of 1.81 points per game.
Compare that to the 11 games played without Kane where Spurs won seven, drew one and lost three – a win percentage of 64% and an average of two points per game.
There are many Lilywhites fans who watch their team week in, week out who see the fluidity of their play improve when Kane is on the sidelines.
And their run to the Champions League final was achieved largely without the England captain, discounting the second leg against Borussia Dortmund and the home leg against Manchester City when he limped off after an hour.
Spurs played Heung Min Son and Lucas Moura in Kane’s role during his European absence, and the pair netted a combined seven goals in the knockout stages of the competition.
So, there is an argument to be made that the money Spurs would receive from Kane outweighs the improvement he gives them on the pitch.
This opinion was facilitated by Kane’s performance in the Champions League final in which he was ineffective and largely manhandled by Virgil Van Dijk.
If you take the season as a whole, in all competitions there is a little discrepancy between Spurs with and without Kane – 58% win percentage with and 57% without.
And over the course of the five-year period in which Kane has been the go-to man for goals in the Tottenham side, Spurs have actually averaged 1.9 goals without him compared to 1.78 with.
This gives Pochettino a headache amid the 2019/20 season given Kane’s rumoured price tag of over 155.2 million euros, according to the CIES Football Observatory.
Spurs have a history of selling their star players and maintaining their top six status – Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale to name just a few.
Whether Pochettino makes the bold decision to move Kane on is one which seems unlikely given the cult hero he is at the club.
But the statistics must leave Spurs fans wondering whether the grass may be greener on a pitch without the striker they call ‘one of their own’.