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£2.7m man the latest to face age-old Harry Kane problem at Tottenham – TBR View

Carlos Vinicius is the latest to face the age-old Harry Kane problem at Tottenham Hotspur. The forward will have to fight to overcome it.

Carlos Vinicius struggled when he came on against Ludogorets on Thursday. He never really got into the game and looked off the pace. But then, it was a strange game to come into.

PFC Ludogorets Razgrad v Tottenham Hotspur: Group J - UEFA Europa League
(Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur had total control by half-time and visibly relaxed in the second half. It highlights a problem with Vinicius and one he’s not the first to face – Harry Kane.

Kane is the undisputed star of this Spurs team and the one the attack runs through. This season more than ever, in fact, as Kane is scoring plenty of goals but also creating them in huge numbers, too.

Spurs, then, are at their absolute best when Kane is in the game and flying. But that’s a huge problem for Vinicius as he never gets to play with Kane.

Vinicius has played three games for Spurs now. All have come in the Europa League, with two starts and one substitute appearance. But he hasn’t played one minute with Kane.

In fact, Vinicius has only played a combined 70 minutes with Son Heung-Min – the second star of Tottenham’s attack. The Brazilian virtually never gets to play with the team’s best attacks, let alone all of them.

It all means he’s never in a settled side and never in one that functions flawlessly. Vinicius also only plays when Spurs are either expecting an easy win or have the game wrapped up – neither are Tottenham at full tempo.

The problem stems from Spurs always wanting Kane on the pitch when the performance ‘matters’. If it’s a tough game, he plays. If it’s a big game, he plays.

Not the first

Vinicius isn’t the first to face this problem, though. Kane has kept the likes of Fernando Llorente and Vincent Janssen out of the team, too, relegating them to impact-sub appearances or games without the best XI.

It’s a very difficult pattern to come out of. Tottenham will always want Kane on the pitch when the game matters and that eliminates the need for Vinicius. The best he can hope for, then, is that Son’s form continues and allows Spurs to rest Kane more often.

That, right now, looks like Vinicius’s best chance of making an impact at the club after . Otherwise, he may simply be the latest forward who can’t break into the Spurs lineup.