Tottenham one of several clubs interested in Gent striker Gift Orban

This is not an article about Harry Kane. This is an article about what happens if we SELL Harry Kane. Good ol’ Harold is, as we’ve said repeatedly, irreplaceable in that there’s nobody Tottenham Hotspur can realistically bring in that can replicate everything he does and the goals that he scores. But if he does go this summer, Spurs can and should be looking at young talent that can slot in to hopefully be a part of the next great Spurs team under Ange Postecoglou.

Practically speaking, that means that Spurs are going to be linked to just about every young attacker in Europe this summer. That’ll be annoying, but it will hopefully allow us to dream on and get exited about some new names.

Take this one — Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad says that Spurs are taking a look at 21-year old Gent striker Gift Orban to at least partially fill that Kane-shaped hole he’ll leave behind. And truthfully, he’s kind of interesting! Orban’s minutes are a small sample size according to FBRef, but he did 14 goals and 2 assists in about 1200 minutes in all competitions, including 5 goals in the Conference League and an xG+xA/90 of 0.98 in that same competition. Pretty good! He truly is the Gift that keeps on giving.

Now, I have my doubts that Orban is the kind of player who could immediately step into a first team starting role at Spurs in the event of Kane’s departure, but that’s the kind of profile of player we should be looking at if we’re really considering sticking with Postecoglou long-term. He’s a young guy with a very high upside and who’s probably ready for a step up in competition from the Belgian league. I can see a situation where Spurs could purchase him and then loan him right back to Gent for the season. And truthfully, who are we to look a Gift Orban in the mouth?

(As an aside, I found the Google Translate of the first paragraph of that article from Dutch to be especially hilarious — “Gift Orban (21) is hot. Beautiful clubs were already knocking on the door with Lens and Lille, but Tottenham: that’s something else.” The Dutch language is just exquisitely horny.)

Anyway, I’m kinda into this kid, even if he’d definitely be one for the future and not someone whom we would expect to bang in 20 goals this coming season. But his ceiling looks pretty dang high and it’d be neat to get one of these players in before they explode and end up costing £65m to buy. In short, regardless of what happens to Kane it’d be pretty neat if we got this Gift wrapped as soon as possible.