Captain Kane? Pochettino to hand Tottenham leadership role to star striker

After he arrived at Tottenham Hotspur last summer, manager Mauricio Pochettino handed the club captaincy to then-vice captain Younes Kaboul, a decision that proved to be a mistake as the defender was soon exiled to the fringes of the squad with the rest of the Kaboul Cabal. Now, with Kaboul likely to leave the club, star striker Harry Kane is set to step into a leadership void at Spurs.

The Daily Mail is reporting that Pochettino is likely to award captaincies to both Kane and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, with Hugo as club captain and Kane as vice captain. Lloris was named co-vice captain with Emmanuel Adebayor last season, and will ascend to the top leadership position at the club, with Kane as his Number Two.

If true, this makes a lot of sense. Hugo was basically serving as de facto captain for much of the season anyway with Kaboul and Ade banished to the hinterlands. The players reportedly like and respect him, he's a commanding presence on the pitch, and perhaps the club's best player. Meanwhile, Kane is Tottenham's talisman and the most exciting player at the club and has already captained the side in Spurs' 0-0 draw with Burnley back in April. It's somewhat of a no-brainer.

Say what you will about the entire institution of captaincies at football clubs – I happen to think there's too much made of them and their roles are over-emphasized – but with both players also the subject of rampant transfer speculation and possible big-money bids from huge Champions League clubs, if this small carrot in any way helps keep both of them around, then it's totally worth it.