Tottenham, Manchester United and a sliding-doors moment

Erik ten Hag was a contender for the Tottenham job in 2021 but Spurs looked elsewhere and began down a road that led to their current chaos

Erik ten Hag was praising a prolific centre-forward. Which, in itself, meant he was not talking about a current Manchester United player. Marcus Rashford has scored 28 times this season, but his preferred position is coming off the left flank. Anthony Martial has seven goals: the damning statistic, however, is not that none have come in his last four outings but that, as May beckons, he has still only started seven league games. Wout Weghorst has two goals, neither in the Premier League.

Instead, Ten Hag was speaking about Harry Kane and of his admiration for a player who, in most other seasons or a world without Erling Haaland, would be on course for the Golden Boot. Kane has 24 league goals in a mediocre Spurs side, a record 274 for Tottenham Hotspur and a record 55 for England. His excellence extends beyond the total, however, as the Dutchman said.

“The number of goals, and also his key actions [that] come to a goal, final passes as well, he is just a great player and a great personality as well,” he explained. When Harry Met Erik isn’t quite the working title for a film yet; United want a striker in the summer and they have long liked Kane. None of that necessarily means it will be the England captain. United are reluctant to get out in a drawn-out saga which could occupy their summer, potentially meaning they miss out on other attackers as a result. They have reservations about dealing with the famously awkward Daniel Levy.

But there is a scenario when Ten Hag and Kane could have teamed up. Tottenham are on to their second interim manager of the season, with Ryan Mason taking over from Cristian Stellini. It isn’t the first time there has been both a vacuum and a sense of chaos at Spurs. When Jose Mourinho, a common denominator between these clubs, was sacked in 2021, Spurs compiled a hugely impressive, if wildly different, shortlist only to end up, after an increasingly fraught 72 days in limbo, with the miscast, and swiftly dismissed, Nuno Espirito Santo.

Ten Hag was on their list. Indeed, after he signed a new deal with Ajax and Tottenham turned their attentions elsewhere, their suggestion was that his poor English had counted against him. United think that is an excuse: as they did their due diligence on the Dutchman, they studied every aspect of him. Ten Hag’s communication can be direct, perhaps the product of a more limited vocabulary, but it has been effective and certainly no impediment.

A year into his reign at Old Trafford, as Tottenham begin another managerial hunt, it feels as if Spurs’ past mistakes have caught up with them. Examine the job Ten Hag has done at Old Trafford, albeit in a different environment, and it almost appears like a checklist of what Tottenham want.

There will, almost certainly, be a top-four finish for United and not for Spurs. The London club have brought up 15 years without silverware. Ten Hag has added one trophy to the cabinet at Old Trafford, with the possibility of a second. Much of his football has been entertaining. There have been a series of wins over the elite at home, albeit offset by some dismal results on the road. Some players have improved, some have been rejuvenated. Ten Hag has a popularity with the fanbase and has served as the unifier of a broken club. Were he available now, he would seem an ideal candidate.

Ten Hag on his last visit to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Ajax in 2019 (Getty Images)

If the summer of 2021 has the air of a sliding-doors moment, the autumn may have been another. United were criticised in some quarters for overlooking Antonio Conte when it was evident Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time was up. Tottenham had no such reservations when the unlamented Nuno’s time was up after just 10 league games. Some 18 months on, with Tottenham in disarray, United’s concerns about Conte’s capacity for explosive divisiveness look well-founded. The Italian was the short-term appointment for Tottenham and United played the long game.

A trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium offers Spurs a glimpse of what they could have had and Ten Hag a chance for revenge. Four years ago, his Ajax won a Champions League semi-final first leg in London, only to lose 3-2 in Amsterdam, with Lucas Moura completing a hat-trick deep in injury-time. There is a temptation to date Tottenham’s subsequent decline to that historic high. Now, lacking a manager and a sense of direction, humiliated 6-1 by Newcastle on Sunday, they offer Kane precious few reasons to stay. If he does not go this summer, he could when his contract expires in 2024.

Losing Kane, the greatest scorer in their history, would represent a body blow for Spurs. Missing out on Ten Hag, who has had the kind of impact at United that can persuade wavering players to commit their future, has the look of a misstep along the way.