Why Carlos Vinicius’ Totteham Hotspur Future Will Be Decided In The Coming Weeks

You could almost set your watch by it. The new year is here and, inevitably, Harry Kane is out injured. The issue is in both ankles, but it is not known how long he will be missing for this time – all Jose Mourinho revealed this week was that it was “not a nothing injury.”

But one thing is certain: Tottenham Hotspur will miss him dearly.

As José Mourinho said in his press conference on Friday: “Harry Kane is Harry Kane, you know. There are players in some teams are not replaceable.”

There is quite clearly a good dollop of truth in that. As well as being joint second on the Premier League’s
PINC
top-scorer list, with 12, Kane is top of the assist charts, with 11, one more than Manchester City’s creator-in-chief Kevin De Bruyne.

There is no other central attacker in world football whose all-round game is so finely tuned, who can to such a great extent be his team’s provider and finisher.

Yet unlike in seasons gone by, Tottenham have planned for this exact eventuality.

When Kane was out last year, it was left to wide attackers Heung-min Son, Steven Bergwijn or Lucas Moura to lead the line.

Though each of them was valiant in their efforts, none could effectively fill that center-forward-shaped hole. The number of balls lost when Spurs went direct – which, let’s face it, was quite often – was the most noticeable consequence.

But last October, knowing an injury to Kane was so likely to come again at some point, Spurs went out and recruited Brazilian front man Carlos Vinicius on loan, who in many ways should be a direct replacement.

Of course, he is not quite on Kane’s level, and he had only played one full season at the very top level of European football when he arrived. But in terms of characteristics, it looked a reasonable match.

Vinicius scored 18 goals in last season’s Primera Liga for Benfica at a quite remarkable rate of one every 99 minutes.

More than that, though, Vinicius is a man capable of dropping off and turning to face the opposition, of bringing his team-mates into play with and helping drag his side up the pitch.

As I heard when I spoke to one of his former coaches in October, Vinicius is a fine passer of the ball and has the intelligence to find pockets of space from which he can link the play.

Unfortunately for him, he has barely had the chance to show that quality in the Premier League, playing just 25 minutes over four substitute appearances.

The 25-year-old has played five times in the Europa League, managing a very respectable three goals and three assists. And he bagged a hat-trick in his first FA Cup appearance of the season, albeit against frail opposition.

Yet when Harry Kane came off with his ankle injury against Liverpool last weekend, Mourinho turned to lithe Argentinian attacking midfielder Erik Lamela rather than the 6’3” Brazilian striker.

One can only imagine that it was a blow to Vincius’ confidence – it was the exact situation Spurs had brought him in for, and he was left sitting on the subs bench.

What happens to him in the coming weeks, then, feels like it will be make or break for his Tottenham future.

When he arrived, it was on an initial season-long loan with an option, rather than an obligation, to buy. It is a good deal for Spurs, so good that it annoyed Benfica fans intensely, but it leaves Vinicius in a precarious situation.

If Mourinho does not utilize him as the first-choice attacker in Kane’s absence, then Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy will surely not be inclined to exercise the €43m option to make the Brazilian’s transfer permanent.

This week, ex-Spurs boss Harry Redknapp told Stadium Astro that he would have brought Vinicius on last week against Liverpool and would hand him a chance now.

“They tell me the Brazilian boy is a fantastic player,” Redknapp said. “He’s strong, he scored a couple of great goals, okay it was only at Marine I know but one of the finishes was out of the top drawer.

“Maybe it’s a chance to play him now, even at half time they could have stuck him up top and played him up there at half time, rather than bringing on Lamela and Winks.

“Go and stick him up there, 1-0 down. Perhaps he needs a run this boy, he might be the answer. You don’t know until he gets the chance.”

Spurs may have to adapt the way they play a little to accommodate Vinicius.

Though he is capable of dropping off, Vinicius will not be as prolific an assister as Kane. Spurs, then, may need another passing player like Harry Winks in central midfield to compensate for the loss of Kane’s creativity.

But surely Mourinho knew that he would never be able to get a perfect Kane replacement and that whoever he brought as the injury substitute, he would have to adapt slightly when they were deployed in the England captain’s absence.

If the Portuguese coach chooses not to hand Vinicius his first Premier League start on Sunday evening against Brighton, it will not bode well for the Brazilian’s Tottenham future.