The former Man United boss nurtured Harry Kane in a way that may have prompted Ten Hag to make the striker his top priority.
Jose Mourinho and Erik ten Hag are akin in that they both won the League Cup in their first seasons at Manchester United – but that’s where the similarities end.
Towards the end of Mourinho’s Old Trafford stay, he produced the famous ‘three times’ rant regarding his Chelsea Premier League titles and demanded more respect.
He was clearing his desk two months later and soon after could use the same number of fingers to count the number of English clubs he had managed, rocking up at Tottenham less than a year after his United exit.
Mourinho was only at Spurs for 18 months but he arguably walked away from his dismissal looking the better of the two parties. He guided Spurs to their first domestic final since 2015 but was sacked before he had the chance to manage in the League Cup final.
The club have failed to reach a final since and his career warning to Dele Alli about not wasting his talent, captured by Amazon documentary cameras, now looks even more pertinent given the reports that he has been outcasted by Besiktas.
His biggest success though is with Harry Kane, Ten Hag’s summer transfer priority. Mourinho transformed Kane from a No.9 to a deeper-lying playmaker/forward who can both score and assist.
In Mourinho’s second season, as well as netting 33 goals, the England captain tallied a remarkable 17 assists – more than in his three previous seasons combined. He carried on the trend last season with 27 goals and 10 assists.
Kane is a matchwinner, both a scorer and a provider. Ten Hag is used to working with big strikers, revamping the career of West Ham reject Sebastien Haller at Ajax and trying to do likewise with Wout Weghorst at United.
His opening lines about his running and defensive capabilities hinted that Ten Hag had not brought Weghorst in just for his goals, albeit still wanted that side of his game to blossom. The striker’s work ethic saw him drop into a No.10 position against Barcelona in their Europa League clash at the Nou Camp.
It worked on that occasion but has failed to in the times he’s been placed there since and hasn’t got the stats to justify this ploy – two goals and two assists in 18 starts. Kane can do a similar job to the one Weghorst was asked to do but with much greater devastation, something that will pique the interest of Ten Hag.
Spurs’ all-time top goalscorer also has an unnoticed work ethic. By the mid-season break, Kane had covered 155.2 kilometres in Premier League matches – the most of any centre-forward in the league and the eighth-best overall.
This was first instilled by Mourinho at Spurs before, of course, being enhanced by Antonio Conte’s demands. But his partnership with Son Heung-min first grew under Mourinho and Kane can benefit from likewise partnerships at United.
He already knows in-form England colleague Marcus Rashford – who has 27 goals himself this season – while Antony offers the legs and nimble feet that 29-year-old Kane may not have in future years.
Source: manchestereveningnews.co.uk
