Will Lankshear’s ninth goal in 12 games for Middlesbrough was a classic poacher’s finish: leaping high, six yards out, he nodded in Tommy Conway’s cross from the left wing to give Boro a 1-0 win against Wolves on Saturday. That positioning, finishing and instinct have made the 21-year-old an instant hit at the Riverside Stadium — and a cause of lament at Tottenham Hotspur.
Lankshear joined Middlesbrough from Spurs in the summer on a five-year contract, in a deal that could rise to a club record buy of £20m. Since then, he has scored as many goals in all competitions as Tottenham’s combined team. Spurs, despite Dominic Solanke’s last-minute goal in a draw at Manchester United a few hours after Lankshear’s latest winner, remain in the Premier League relegation zone, while Middlesbrough sit in the Championship’s automatic promotion places. Solanke’s goal was the first league goal scored by a Tottenham forward in five months.
The contrast has left Tottenham supporters asking why Lankshear was allowed to leave. “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. Given how badly we have started this season, as a fan it feels like the wrong decision.”
Amid a multi-million pound summer splurge, Tottenham sanctioned Lankshear’s exit for an initial fee worth about £10m, with an additional £10m due in add-ons based on various clauses. Middlesbrough had seen 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 on loan for a relegated side. His form was good, but not so compelling that he had to go straight into the Spurs first team.
Former Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson believes the move makes sense for a young player who needed senior football. “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,” he said. “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, getting the opportunity to play in the first team, regardless of what league it is. Will has been given this opportunity, and he is taking it.”
Lankshear had 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 and then being sent off against Galatasaray. But amid a churn of players and managers at Spurs, he moved on — and Middlesbrough fans could hardly be happier.
Boro have built a reputation in recent years for providing a springboard for promising youngsters. Morgan Rogers spent six months at the Riverside Stadium before joining Aston Villa. Middlesbrough also badly needed a skilful, physical presence who could finish the chances created by Kim Hellberg’s creative but blunt side, having missed out on promotion last season after scoring only once in three play-off games.
“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 said. “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. He seems to have the all-round package — good with both feet and in the air.”
The comparisons with Harry Kane are difficult to ignore. Lankshear is a 6ft 2in English striker with a deadly finishing touch who came through at Spurs before learning his trade in the Football League. “I can understand the comparisons with Harry Kane,” Robinson said. “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 setbacks. He was initially at Arsenal’s academy, 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: 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,” Speechly said. “He didn’t do anything remarkable, but it is unfortunate as we are not scoring goals. It is painful to see. 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.”
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 match any future accepted bid that Middlesbrough receive, and Spurs will get 20% of any profit on any future sale. They have first refusal rather than a guaranteed, pre-set buy-back, but there remains a feeling that Boro are enjoying Lankshear while they can. “It’s just the reality of life, definitely in the Championship but certainly in the Premier League,” Drury said. “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 there has even been talk of a step up from the England under-21s, for whom he scored on his debut last month. England manager Thomas Tuchel, referencing potential punishments for Manchester City, said he was open to calling up players outside the Premier League. If Tuchel is succession planning for 33-year-old Kane, given a paucity of top-flight options, a Lankshear call-up may not be so far-fetched.