Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O’Hara has lashed out at his old club once again over a disastrous piece of summer transfer business that is already looking like it is coming back to bite them.
Spurs currently sit mid-table in the Premier League after their three-match winning run was halted at Leeds United right before the international break.
However, one issue that has blighted Roberto De Zerbi’s side since the new campaign began has been the lack of a goalscoring threat in the final third, with Tottenham scoring only 10 goals in as many games.
Of those 10 strikes, central strikers Dominic Solanke and loanee Omar Marmoush account for only two, and it’s no secret that Spurs are expected to bring in another No.9 in the upcoming January transfer window.
However, O’Hara thinks that scenario could potentially have been avoided if the north London club had shown more faith in keeping outstanding young prospect Will Lankshear, rather than selling him to Middlesbrough over the summer.
Lankshear has been labelled as the ‘second coming of Harry Kane’ at Tottenham for some time and it came as a major shock when the club offloaded him for just £10million, plus a further £10m in add-ons, to the Championship high-fliers.
Our sources have revealed how Lankshear is now attracting plenty of attention, as a result of his fine start to life on Teesside, with the 21-year-old having notched 15 goals in 16 appearances in all competitions for Boro.
While Tottenham do not have a buy-back option on the forward, they do have ‘matching rights on future bids’ for Lankshear, should interest ramp up in 2027 or beyond.
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O’Hara rues massive Tottenham, Lankshear blunder
But O’Hara believes, given the struggles of Spurs’ current striker options, that a ‘nightmare scenario’ is now unfolding over their failure to keep the England Under-21 around. Indeed, our sources indicate that Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel is already keeping a close eye on Lankshear.
O’Hara told Sky Sports: “We’ve got a problem up front – that’s my concern.
“We’ve got a massive problem up front. [Dominic] Solanke’s not doing it, Richarlison is not even registered, sold Will Lankshear, and now I’m starting to look at it and think, ‘well unless we score from a set-piece or a moment of brilliance, where are the goals coming from?’
“Who’s getting us 15 goals? They sold Will Lankshear and that for me is looking like a bit of a nightmare scenario. He’s gone to Middlesbrough and is banging in the goals and performing really well.
“I think, at the moment, he looks like a player that could have really done a job for us, even if it was just someone who could come off the bench.
“He looks like a handful, has good feet, knows where the goal is, makes good runs. And I know he was highly thought of at Spurs, so I’m really surprised they did get rid of him.”
When asked whether Lankshear would start for De Zerbi’s side, O’Hara said: “It’s a good question [would he be starting at Spurs?]. I think if he was playing like he has been for Middlesbrough – and I know it’s the Championship – but I think he probably would start.
“Solanke is nowhere near good enough at the moment; he needs to be way better. Whereas Will Lankshear looks like a player we’ve let go and might be one we might regret.
“I know there’s a need to balance the books and selling youngsters gets you 100 per cent profit and all that kind of stuff. That’s ridiculous if you ask me – to have to do that to stay within FFP rules.
“But Will Lankshear, for me, looks like a player that we should never have let go…”