Not many Premier League teams has its fortune strung around one man as much Tottenham Hotspur has with Harry Kane.
The English forward has been the undisputable talisman for Spurs for the best part of the last decade. He has scored 213 goals for the North London side, despite being hindered by a constantly revolving door of managers.
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But with German giant Bayern Munich firmly setting its eyes on Kane, Spurs, who missed out on European football after a poor season, are being forced to look into a future without their primary source of goals.
In Ange Postecoglu, Spurs have a manager renowned for his attacking philosophy. But the Greek-Australian is a largely untested figure in top-tier European football and will have his task cut out in the uber-competitive Premier League.
Here is how Spurs could lineup this season:
Goalkeeper
With long-time No. 1 Hugo Lloris set to leave the club, Spurs will likely have Italian shot-stopper Guglielmo Vicario under the bar for the 23-24 season. The 26-year-old, who had joined from Empoli in the summer window, is an imposing figure and will look to fill in for the illustrious Lloris.
Defence
Postecoglu’s game is heavily hinged on his wing-backs and their contribution in build-up play and attacking. In Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie, he has two ideal candidates. The wing-back duo are proficient in offence and will look to compliment their attackers with overlapping and underlapping runs.
Cristian Romero is the most assured of the centre-backs of the lot for Spurs. The Argentinian will take up the right slot, while the versatile Ben Davies looks set to partner him at the centre. Another option would be to utilise the service of the newly-signed Micky van de Ven at the left side of the central defence.
Midfield
Things are yet to settle down for Spurs in the midfield as Postecoglu has shuffled his pack around in the pre-season. But as things stand, defensive midfielder Yves Bissouma and new-signing James Maddison seem to have to lock down their spots.
The third midfield position will be a toss up between Giovani Lo Celso, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Pape Matar Sarr.
Attack
In an ideal world, Spurs will be going into the new season with a front three of Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Kane. But unfortunately for Spurs, we live in one where Bayern let go of Robert Lewandowski one season and Sadio Mane the next.
Richarlison (R) of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates after scoring the second goal for Tottenham Hotspur during the pre-season friendly match between Tottenham Hotspur and Lion City Sailors. | Photo Credit: Lionel Ng/Getty Images
Kane’s departure, if it happens, will open the door for Richarlison to take up the central figure in Spurs’ attack. The Brazilian attacker had a cursed first season with the London side, with more yellow cards than goals in the league.
But the 26-year-old Brazilian has shown he is more than capable of leading the lines, first with Everton, and more recently and prominently with his national side at the Qatar World Cup, where he scored some spectacular goals.
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