Will Lankshear: The heir to Harry Kane’s indispensable throne?

Becoming Middlesbrough’s most expensive acquisition of the summer if add-ons are met, with the deal potentially reaching £20 million, the 21-year-old has adapted to his new surroundings like a duck to water since permanently departing Tottenham Hotspur.

A productive loan spell with a struggling Oxford United side last term caught plenty of admirers, with Lankshear netting 12 league goals as the U’s suffered relegation to League One, often looking like their main route to safety. 

For a young striker in his second temporary move away from north London, those numbers spoke volumes and led to last season’s beaten Championship play-off finalists forking out a potential club-record fee. 

He has been integral to Kim Hellberg’s side’s fine start to the campaign, currently occupying third place heading into the international break, and he sits behind Southampton’s Cyle Larin in the race for the Golden Boot with six goals. 

Spurs have become renowned for producing talented strikers who have failed to make a mark on the first-team, Dane Scarlett and Troy Parrott are among those who come to mind, and Lankshear is the latest to take his talents elsewhere. 

While it could be debated whether Roberto De Zerbi’s misfiring outfit could benefit from Lankshear’s firepower, he appears to have found a home in North Yorkshire with a title pursuit potentially thrusting him into the England equation.

Raves reviews from the Riverside 

After flourishing for Oxford last term, Lankshear’s future made for compelling reading in the summer.

Another loan spell appeared firmly on the agenda, perhaps a side competing in the upper echelons of the Championship table, with his route into the Spurs front line slipping further out of reach due to their summer overhaul. 

Nonetheless, Middlesbrough came calling, offering a guaranteed £10 million, a deal met with its fair share of scepticism despite a sublime goal-scoring return in a relegated side. 

Boro were searching for the decisive edge in front of goal having appeared to have all but secured Premier League football, yet their inability to kill games off led to a dismal end-of-season run of form which saw them ultimately fall short in the play-offs. 

Lankshear certainly fitted the quota, but as with any big-money addition, it was integral that he hit the ground running, which is exactly what the ex-West Bromwich Albion loanee did. 

A brace in their curtain-raiser victory over Lincoln City was a tantalising taster of what to expect, poking home from close range to equalise before netting a last-gasp winner in very similar fashion. 

This ‘fox-in-the-box’ type striker was exactly what Boro had been crying out for in large spells of last season and he was starting to exemplify his clinical instincts inside the six-yard box. 

It proved to be an early catalyst to initiate Lankshear’s Middlesbrough career with another double against former employers West Brom as well as strikes against Doncaster Rovers, Queens Park Rangers and Millwall. 

Six goals in eight starts is impressive enough, but even more striking is that every goal has come from a first-time finish, indicative of a striker who knows where the back of the net is and can flourish with the right service. 

Crunching the numbers 

It’s easy to draw parallels with Harry Kane, who also honed his craft in the Football League before breaking into the Spurs first-team. 

However, stylistically, Lankshear could hardly be more different from the lethal Bayern Munich frontman. 

He often doesn’t involve himself in build-up play, preferring to stay tight to the opposing backline and using his strength to fend off his marker. 

His five chances created throughout the Championship campaign underline that notion, but it certainly doesn’t take away from what else he can bring to the table.

Outperforming his expected goals by 0.57, Lankshear should be scoring the opportunities which have been offered to him but the vast majority of them have come with several defenders around him so his conversion rate still stands out. 

One area of his game which he will be keen to improve upon is his work with the ball, completing only a third of his dribbles and being dispossessed on seven occasions so far this term. 

Working on his game in possession will only make Lankshear a more well-rounded striker, but Kane is a prime example of how it can take years to develop into a forward who is both clinical in front of goal and capable of thriving in link-up play.

Lankshear is still 21 and has plenty of time to grow with the early signs offering a glimpse of the devastating frontman he could become. 

A potential England star? 

Boasting the best record of any English striker across Europe in front of goal this season, it’s unsurprising that he has been touted for a call-up to the senior Three Lions side. 

Michael Owen feels Lankshear deserves a shot in Thomas Tuchel’s side, saying how “you have to consider him and look at any striker like that” in an interview with teamTALK, a former England star who knows all too well about shining at a young age. 

England’s dearth of striker options is also a driving factor behind why the former Arsenal youth man should be assessed as a serious option in the years to come. 

Kane has the striker position etched in his name, yet it remains to be seen whether the 33-year-old will hang up his international boots in the not-too-distant future. 

Apart from him, the alternatives are sparse with Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins plying their trade in the Saudi Pro League and Dominic Solanke and Liam Delap struggling for form in the past year. 

Dominic Calvert-Lewin deservedly earned a call-up for the upcoming UEFA Nations League matches for just the second time under Tuchel and could be a useful option but there is a distinct lack of young strikers coming through the ranks. 

Divin Mubama has impressed on loan at Southampton and has been called up to the Under-21’s side, and he will be joined by Lankshear who has previously represented the U19 and U20.

This feels like a natural progression towards linking up with the senior squad and maintaining his fine performances at the Riverside Stadium will only strengthen his case for a place in Tuchel’s thinking.