Harry Kane drew praise for how he developed his game as a playmaker, but Manchester United will want the old Kane if they're successful with a summer move.
The forward's Tottenham future remains in doubt with the Englishman's contract winding down into its final year. His trophy cabinet remains empty, United want a No 9 and appear to be a team in the ascendancy. The recipe is there for Kane to push for a move to Old Trafford.
His potential suitors were in town on Thursday night, eventually heading back up north with all three points as Kane failed to add to his tally of five goals against the Red Devils. Those in the away end at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium sang to Kane, telling him they'll "see him in June".
Erik ten Hag though may well want to see a different Kane if United can successfully negotiate his departure from Tottenham. That will be no easy feat, but the Kane on display on Thursday was a hybrid between a No 9 and a No 10 - United want the former.
Creative options are not their issue with the likes of Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes in their ranks. Their problem is having someone who they can rely on to score 30 plus goals, with Marcus Rashford carrying that burden solely on his own at this moment in time.
Kane, for years during the Mauricio Pochettino era, was a major marksman, producing his two best goalscoring seasons under the Argentine. Jose Mourinho showed Kane another way of playing, urging him to drop deep and begin attacks rather than finish them.
It drew huge praise and understandably so as the 29-year-old added another string to his bow. It is a habit he has maintained amid Tottenham's change in managers, but Ten Hag won't have watched the England skipper and thought "god I need that in my team".
Kane played centrally in a front three that also featured Heung-min Son and Richarlison, regularly dropping deep to assist the pair. Too often though the man wearing No 10 acted just like one, timing his runs into the box looking to pick up some scrap or get on the end of a cut back a la peak Frank Lampard.
The issue was, no one was there to tap home the numerous crosses that were fired across the six yard box. That is exactly where you'd want your 30-goal plus striker to be, tapping them in, like Kane once did. On numerous occasions Kane ambled into the area, often arriving by the time the ball was out of play or the split-second chance had gone.
Kane's quality suits this Tottenham side, who don't play with a conventional No 10, leaving him to fill that void. He assisted Son's equaliser and may well have had another assist had his team-mates been more potent. The lack of a No 10 though is not United's issue, for all Kane's quality in that position.
The man wearing that number in red showed exactly what Ten Hag will want and got the rewards from it. Rashford often played on the last man, made easier by his pace, getting involved sporadically in the build up play. His main incentive being to stretch the defence, often being an outlet.
His positional sense was rewarded after 44 minutes when he got a long direct ball played into him before he took on the defender and hammered his shot past Fraser Forster to double United's lead, registering his 29th goal of the season in the process.
Should United's recruitment go the way they want it will be Rashford offering a serious threat from the flank with Kane doing his job through the middle. That will require Kane to revert to type, doing away with his current desire to drop deep. He needs to get back to the out and out forward he once was and allow players to feed him, rather than it be the other way round if he is to be the missing part of United's jigsaw.
