Pochettino on what Tottenham will & won't do now after Kane injured

Mauricio Pochettino will put his faith in his squad players over the next few weeks, because it is “impossible” to buy a replacement for injured star Harry Kane.

Spurs face their first test since treble Golden Boot winner Kane was ruled out until early March - at least 11 games - with damaged ankle ligaments when they travel across London to face struggling Fulham in Sunday's early game.

Far from rushing into a panic buy, however, Pochettino intends to work with the options he has and promote youth. He said: “If we don’t sign players or we are not going to sign a striker, that is not going to be a gamble. It is not going to be a risk.

“We have players that can cope when Harry Kane is not available.

“If we want to find a player similar to him I think we are going to make a mistake, because to find another Harry Kane is impossible — we are talking about the one of the best three, four, five best strikers in the world.

“We have the possibility to create our new star through the academy. You know different names. I don’t want to mention [individuals] as that might not help [them], but of course that is our objective — to try to create the new star of Tottenham, to find him here in our academy, would be the most exciting thing.”

Spurs have the best away record in the Premier League, with 10 wins from 12 games. They have also won their last four meetings with Fulham.

Pochettino, who has already blooded 18-year-old midfielder Oliver Skipp this month, has a high regard for 16-year-old academy striker Troy Parrott.

The Irish youngster has trained with the first team this season and was taken to Leicester for the Premier League game last month as 19th man — the player who would come into the 18 in case of injury or illness on matchday.

Kane misses next Thursday’s second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea . He is also out of Premier League games against the Blues and arch-rivals Arsenal and is set to miss both legs of Tottenham’s Champions League last 16 tie against Borussia Dortmund.

Spurs are also without Son Heung-min, a potential replacement for Kane up front, as he is on Asian Cup duty with South Korea and may not return until February.

Pochettino is far more likely to ask the likes of Erik Lamela and Fernando Llorente to shoulder the burden of trying to replace Kane. But it is thought Parrott could get a small taste of first team action as a substitute during Kane’s absence as a reward for his hard work.

The Spurs boss added: “I was watching Barcelona , and the striker was Leo Messi. You can play Llorente, you can play Dele Alli, you can play Lamela, you can play Kaziah Sterling, Troy Parrett, I don’t know... you can play many, many players.

“It’s not that you have to play with one specific striker.”