Spurs rue £20m sale as 'Kane-esque' Lankshear fires Middlesbrough's promotion push

Leaping high, six yards out, Will Lankshear nodded in Tommy Conway's cross from the left wing to settle Middlesbrough's 1-0 win over Wolves on Saturday — his ninth goal in just 12 games for the club, and his latest strike in all but one of Boro's home matches this season.

It is that positioning, finishing and poacher's instinct that have made the 21-year-old an instant hit at the Riverside Stadium — and, increasingly, a cause of lament at Tottenham Hotspur, the club that let him go.

Lankshear has been an instant hit at the Riverside since his summer move from Tottenham

The one that got away

Lankshear joined Boro from Spurs in the summer on a five-year contract in a deal worth an initial fee of about £10m, with a further £10m due in add-ons based on various clauses — a package that could rise to a club-record £20m for Middlesbrough. Since then, he has scored as many goals in all competitions as Tottenham's entire squad.

While Lankshear's winner lifted Boro into the Championship's automatic promotion places, Spurs — despite snatching a draw at Manchester United a few hours after his latest goal — remain in the Premier League relegation zone. Dominic Solanke's last-minute strike at Old Trafford was the first league goal scored by a Tottenham forward in five months, and FotMob data (as of 11 October) shows the striker has managed just one goal, with no assists, in six Premier League appearances in 2026-27.

That lack of cutting edge persists despite a £334m summer outlay — a spend Sky Sports analysed on 9 October in a comparison with Manchester United's £163m rebuild ahead of the two clubs' meeting at Old Trafford. Sky Sports News' Tottenham reporter Michael Bridge said at the time that the squad remained short in key areas despite the huge spending: "I think they need a striker — an actual No 9 — but how many are there out there?"

Spurs supporters, meanwhile, are asking pointed questions about the one striker they did have who is now scoring for fun elsewhere.

"A lot of fans are wondering why he was sold," Ali Speechly, co-chair of the Women of the Lane supporters' group, told BBC Sport. "It was likely to do with money — his sell-on price is relatively high, so let's cash in on him."

"I was definitely disappointed," she added. "Given how badly we have started this season, as a fan it feels like the wrong decision."

How Boro won the race

Middlesbrough saw off competition from around the Championship, and in Europe, to sign the 21-year-old who had impressed at Oxford United in the second tier last season, scoring 12 league goals for a relegated side. Good form for a young player — but not compelling enough to force his way straight into the Spurs first team, which is precisely why Boro's pitch appealed.

"If you are a young kid at a club where you are not getting any first-team football and you get the opportunity to go and play men's football, you should go," former Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson told BBC Sport. "The academies are great and Premier League 2 is a great feeder for the first team, but if you are 21, 22 or 23 and still mostly playing in the under-23s then you have missed the boat. Getting first-team football is the best grounding you can get for a young footballer, regardless of what league it is. Will has been given this opportunity, and he is taking it."

Lankshear scored 23 goals for Tottenham's U23 team in the 2023-24 Premier League 2 season and played for the senior side in the 2024-25 Europa League campaign — most notably scoring then getting sent off against Galatasaray — as Spurs went on to win the competition. But amid a churn of players and managers in north London, he has moved on — and Boro fans could not be happier.

Middlesbrough have built a reputation in recent years as a springboard for promising youngsters — most notably Morgan Rogers, who spent six months at the Riverside before joining Aston Villa. And after missing out on promotion last season, having scored only once in three play-off games, Boro badly needed a skilful, physical presence to finish the multitude of chances created by head coach Kim Hellberg's creative but blunt side.

"Boro was a team that made a boatload of chances, and he knew he would be able to get on the end of them," BBC Tees commentator Mark Drury told BBC Sport. "But what people have been impressed with is his instinctive finishing — one touch, just being in the right place. It's simple, but not a lot of people know how to be there at the right time, to give yourself the highest percentage chance."

"He's taller and stockier than he might look from the sidelines, and he is only 21," Drury added. "He seems to have the all-round package — good with both feet and in the air."

'A similar career path to Kane'

A 6ft 2in English striker with a deadly finishing touch, who came through at Spurs before learning his trade in the Football League — remind you of anyone?

"I can understand the comparisons with Harry Kane," said Robinson. "He has headed down a similar career path to Harry and, physically, he has a similar stature as well. Like Kane, he looks like a player who is developing a little later, compared to others who are Premier League regulars before the end of their teens. You look at him and the career path he is on; it is a very similar one to the one Harry Kane has been on, and that is a big positive. There is no substitute for playing in the first team somewhere, regardless of what level you are playing at."

Like Kane, Lankshear also had early career setbacks. Initially at Arsenal's academy, he was released and signed with Sheffield United before being picked up by Spurs for £2m when he was 17. His loan spells were hit-and-miss, too: an unremarkable stint at West Brom was followed by a more fruitful spell with Oxford.

"Harry Kane didn't always have brilliantly successful loan spells — they are not always a marker of a player," said Speechly. "I don't think we will ever get another Kane, but there are definitely similarities. He is a real poacher and has a strong work ethic. It is very Kane-esque."

What Spurs kept — and what could come next

Tottenham do not have the right to immediately bring Lankshear back next summer. Clauses in the deal give them the right to be notified of, and to match, any future accepted bid that Middlesbrough receive, and Spurs will get 20% of any profit on any future sale. It is first refusal rather than a guaranteed, pre-set buy-back — and there remains a feeling Boro are enjoying Lankshear while they can.

"It's just the reality of life, definitely in the Championship but certainly in the Premier League," said Drury. "There is always a pecking order. Lankshear seems to have all the tools, including attitude, to make the best of the talent he has got. If he continues at this rate of progress, it would be no surprise to see him in the Premier League — hopefully with the Boro."

Such has been Lankshear's form that talk of an England step-up is already growing, after he scored on his under-21 debut against Kazakhstan in September. England manager Thomas Tuchel has said he is open to calling up players from outside the Premier League, in reference to potential punishments for Manchester City. And if the England boss is succession planning for the 33-year-old Kane — who equalled Peter Shilton's all-time England appearance record with his 125th cap earlier this month — given the paucity of top-flight options, a Lankshear call-up may not be so far-fetched.

For now, though, the striking reality is simple: Boro have a 21-year-old outscoring an entire Premier League squad, and the club that let him go are the ones searching for goals.

Additional reporting: Sky Sports (9 October); FotMob player data (11 October).