Could Tottenham’s long term future exclude Harry Kane?

Whether playing or not, it’s hard to imagine a Tottenham Hotspur team without their ace, but that scenario is a distinct possibility if Harry Kane suffers another serious ankle injury. 

As ankles go, Kane has two of the most vulnerable around. Seeing him writhing in pain, holding either his right or left ankle has, unfortunately, become commonplace for Tottenham supporters.

It all started in 2016 when Kane, against Sunderland at home, suffered his first ankle injury. Incurring ankle ligament damage, Kane missed 10 matches while he convalesced.

Just six months later lightning struck twice, with Kane once again favouring his right ankle in an FA Cup match against Millwall. While that injury was far less severe, with Kane returning in just under a month, it showcased the susceptibility of his ankle, highlighting the increased likelihood of a recurring problem.

Damaged ligaments, even with the advancements in modern medicine, never truly heal. With each recurring injury ligaments endure more stress and stretch, a snowball effect that sees the ankle weaken progressively. Compounding matters, the cumulative weakening of the affected ankle correlates directly to an increased chance of recurrence. And so the vicious cycle continues.

Kane suffered another injury a year on from the aforementioned setback, this time in 2018 against Bournemouth. Again the right ankle was affected. Luckily this setback was only a minor one, with Kane returning after one match on the sideline.

The silver lining, at that point, was that Kane’s left ankle was spared, left totally unscathed.  In a match against Manchester United in January that lucky streak came to a sobering end. Whether his stronger left ankle was over compensating for his weakened right we’ll never know, but Kane went down in a familiarly painstaking way. The first blight on his right ankle kept him out of the team for six weeks. The diagnosis, unsurprisingly, was ligament damage. Which takes us to his most recent injury, occurring against Manchester City in the Champions League quarterfinal second leg.

We all knew his fate the moment it happened. It was thought that injury on the touch-line at the Etihad was the final act of Kane’s season. And it would have been had Spurs not miraculously made the Champions League Final.

If we’ve learned anything by now, it’s how resilient Kane is. The marksman rehabilitates quickly, often returning well ahead of schedule. It turns out, though, that rushing Kane back prematurely doesn’t benefit anyone.

A painful reminder of how ineffective he is in the immediate aftermath of returning from a long injury, Kane struggled to make any impact on proceedings in Madrid. A half-fit Kane, the Guardian reports, is not useful to anyone. After being proven wrong on June 1 yet again, I’ve also come to that uncomfortable realization.

One has to wonder whether another serious ankle injury could spell the end of Harry Kane’s reign as one of the world’s best strikers. Career threatening injuries don’t always happen in silo, often, instead, caused by repetitive trauma.

Suffering five ankle injuries in three years is enough to alarm even the most zealous optimist.

Spurs supporters will hold their collective breath next time Kane goes down favouring either ankle, as incurring any additional serious ligament damage could prematurely mark the beginning of the end for Spurs’ all-time great.