As the saga surrounding Harry Kane hots up, Tottenham Hotspur should begin to plan for the inevitable...

What's the word?

According to Corriere dello Sport (via Sport Witness), Spurs are monitoring Torino striker Andrea Belotti ahead of a potential move this transfer window.

It's thought that the Premier League side made attempts to sign the 39-cap Italy international under Jose Mourinho but their advances failed to result in a transfer.

The 27-year-old, who is valued at £31.5m by Transfermarkt, has entered the final year of his contract but is yet to decide if he wants to renew his current deal.

Like-for-like replacement?

There are big question marks over the future of Kane in North London as the 28-year-old talisman is expected to do "whatever it takes" to seal a move to defending champions Manchester City before the deadline at the end of the month.

That's according to the latest bombshell dropped by Football Insider.

His potential departure would leave Nuno Santo with a glaring void in attack but it's one that could be filled by Belotti, who is almost a like-for-like successor waiting to be snapped up.

[snack-amp-story url= "https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/spurs-latest-team-news-transfer-rumours-gossip-and-much-more-copy" title= "Read the latest Spurs news, transfer rumours, gossip and much more!"]

The Italian may be a tad shorter at 5 foot 11 but he bears plenty of similarities, notably his ability to regularly find the net and being a leader in the squad.

As per Transfermarkt, Belotti has scored double figures in each of the last six seasons, including a career-best total of 26 during the 2016/17 campaign. Overall, he's bagged 105 goals in 228 appearances for Torino, as well as 12 goals on the international stage too, where he has just won Euro 2020.

Joe Hart, who left Spurs for Celtic this week, once played alongside the goal machine at the Bulls and praised his qualities. He told Gianluca Di Marzio:

"Andrea is similar to all the great strikers, English and not. It's hard to compare him to someone else because he's special. He's Belotti and that's it. He has instinct for goals, personality and he's a team player: he's always focused on his team and plays hard to help it."

Furthermore, the Italy beast has held the armband since 2017 and has been lauded as a "real captain" by club president Urbano Cairo.

Having begun his career as a midfielder, Belotti also has some intriguing creative attributes. Kane often dropped deep last season and ended up finishing as the squad's leading provider with 14 assists.

In Serie A last term, Belotti averaged 1.2 key passes per 90 minutes, via WhoScored.

All in all, if Kane does swap London for Manchester, sporting director Fabio Paratici would be a wise man if he were to revisit his old league to swoop for the Torino talisman.

AND in other news, Spurs open talks to sign £18m-rated "leader" who "Nuno likes", he's a big Dier upgrade...