I watched the 'next Harry Kane' and Tottenham fans should be excited

When Will Lankshearsigned for Oxford United on loan in the summer, there was hope that the 20-year-old could gain some valuable first-team experience and find his goalscoring touch at senior level.

Lankshear, 20, who made his Tottenham debut during a Europa League tie against Ferencvaros in October 2024, netted his first Spurs goal the following month, in the same competition, at Galatasaray.

But, after he was restricted to just six appearances under Ange Postecoglou, Lankshear moved to West Brom on loan for the second half of the season. However, he failed to score in 11 matches for the Baggies.

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Lankshear returned to Tottenham and featured for new head coach Thomas Frank in pre-season, scoring in a 2-0 win over Reading in July. He then played against Luton Town before securing another loan move.

This time, Oxford confirmed the arrival of Lankshear at the start of August, with the striker putting pen to paper in time to start their Championship curtain-raiser against Portsmouth at the Kassam Stadium.

Lankshear scored his first Oxford goal on his second appearance for the club at Hull City, before following that up with a strike against Coventry City just before the September international break.

He then made it three goals in five second-tier games for the U's, as he found the net against Leicester City on Saturday. Lankshear tapped home from close-range after Michal Hielik pulled the ball back.

Although Lankshear is no doubt going to score harder goals in his career, he followed up a saved shot and was in the right place at the right time - like all prolific strikers need to be.

Apart from his goal, Lankshear produced an excellent all-round forward's performance. He was a real handful and the Leicester defenders, including Italy international Caleb Okoli, couldn't contain him.

Lankshear's strength and ability to hold the ball up while under pressure stood out. Okoli and fellow Foxes centre-back Jannik Vestergaard are strong themselves, but Lankshear caused them so many problems.

His movement also looked impressive. Every time Cameron Brannagan and the Oxford midfielders had the ball he demanded it off them and wanted to get involved where possible.

It did feel as though, having watched him in the flesh, that there is so much Harry Kane about him. Lankshear likes to drop into the pockets, like Kane, to get the ball and feed it out to the wingers as well as driving forward himself.

Kane, meanwhile, had a similar career path to Lankshear with rejections when he was a youngster, before then enjoying time out in the EFL before coming back to Tottenham as a better and more complete player.

While it's unknown whether Lankshear can be as good and productive as Kane in the future, Spurs fans have a reason to be excited about what he could bring to north London when he returns from his loan at Oxford.