Pundit Paul Merson does not think Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane will be an automatic starter next season.
It is no secret that Kane, 28, has been the Lilywhites’ best player for the best part of a decade.
Having so far scored an eye-watering 248 goals from 385 appearances, in all competitions, the 28-year-old England international is closing in on Jimmy Greaves’ record of 266 goals for the club.
However, despite being Antonio Conte’s most important player, Merson thinks fans will see less of the English forward next time out.
“I always go for Harry Kane when someone asks me to predict the winner of the Golden Boot because he’s some player,” the former Arsenal player wrote in his SportsKeeda column.
“He had three league goals last season until December but ended up finishing just four shy of Mohamed Salah and Heung-min Son, who shared the Golden Boot with 23 goals apiece.
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“The only issue is that Kane might not play every game this season due to a number of reasons. For starters, his injury record doesn’t make for good reading and to make matters worse, the 2022 FIFA World Cup is coming up in December, so he could well be rested to stay fit for the whole season.
“Additionally, the arrival of Richarlison could see Antonio Conte rotate his star man, so it’ll be really interesting to see how this one pans out.”
Harry Kane to be benched by Antonio Conte?
Although fans will understand Merson’s point about Kane playing in this winter’s 2022 World Cup, it is hard to imagine that Conte will favour new-signing Richarlison over the Three Lions’ skipper in a central striking position.
Kane has consistently fired in the goals for Tottenham Hotspur, finishing in double figures in the Premier League in every season since the 2013-14 campaign.
Nevertheless, however Conte decides to manage Kane next season, one thing is for sure, with a demanding and energy-zapping World Cup scheduled for slap-bang in the middle of the domestic season, the Italian must think carefully about keeping his number 10 injury-free and in the zone.
We are thinking like a big club now ,rotation to keep everybody on top of their game as often as possible not like that tin pot club down the road. COYS