Tottenham will probably have to get used to losing heroically, at least while Ange Postecoglou’s revolution slowly takes shape.
Spurs wrapped up pre-season with a 4-2 defeat by Barcelona on Tuesday night, clinched by two late goals, but the performance of a second-string XI, without Harry Kane and several others, was nonetheless encouraging.
Spurs squandered a 2-1 lead after Oliver Skipp’s first-half double, but outplayed a full-strength Barca side for long periods, and some of their patterns of play were genuinely outstanding.
Previously written-off players, including Davinson Sanchez and Giovani Lo Celso, looked reborn, and the performances of the Argentine, Skipp and Yves Bissouma have surely left Postecoglou with a selection headache in midfield ahead of Sunday’s opening Premier League game at Brentford.
If Kane’s four goals in the 5-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk on Sunday seemingly underlined his all-consuming importance to Spurs, then Tuesday night offered a promising glimpse of life beyond Kane, who remains a target for Bayern Munich.
The England captain is leaning towards staying at Spurs after Bayern’s third offer was rejected on Monday, but the German champions are on Wednesday poised to table a fresh bid, believed to be worth about £94.5million, plus add-ons, leaving the 30-year-old’s future still in the balance.
Kane wants his future decided by the start of the season and has indicated that he will pull the plug on any move if a deal is not agreed before the weekend, leaving Bayern running out of time to match Spurs’s valuation of their record goalscorer.
No amount of money could ever sugarcoat the loss of the club’s greatest-ever player, though, and losing him would be a sickening gut punch for supporters, and rob Spurs of their primary creator, goal threat and dressing-room leader.
Without him, Postecoglou’s side would immediately go from top-four contenders to rank outsiders. That said, Spurs’s fledgling performances under the new head coach, including at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Tuesday, should offer cause for comfort if Kane does join Bayern in the coming days.
Under Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte, selling Kane would have been unthinkable, but Postecoglou’s Spurs are already less reliant on individuals, thanks to a clearly-defined approach.
The Australian’s philosophy is non-negotiable, and he has quickly established a clear template for his players — evidenced on Tuesday as Spurs took the game to the LaLiga champions with purpose, bravery and attacking intent.
Kane is still comfortably Spurs’s best player and the rebuild by Postecoglou will surely progress far more quickly if he stays for at least another season.
The club, though, are moving towards a structure where no individual is bigger than the team, suggesting they would, in time, be able to absorb Kane’s loss and remain competitive — whether he departs this week or on a free transfer in a year’s time.
Richarlison, who would replace Kane as Spurs’s No9 this season, was subdued in Spain, but Postecoglou’s team will not be reliant on the forwards for goals, underlined by Skipp’s well-taken double.
Kane would fill his boots for Postecoglou’s Spurs — a point the head coach made after the Shakhtar game — but the scoring should also be spread around far more than last season, when the striker scored more than 40 per cent of their Premier League goals.
Fans now face an anxious wait to discover if Bayern’s latest bid will be enough to satisfy Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman, but for the first time they should be able to glimpse a brighter future with or without their talisman.
