Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg believes Will Lankshear already carries the instincts of a top-level finisher, even at this early stage of his career away from Tottenham.
Spurs let the 21-year-old leave for Boro in the summer for an initial £10million, with a further £10million possible in add-ons, plus matching rights on future offers and a 20 per cent sell-on clause built into the deal. A buy-back clause wasn’t possible under EFL rules, so that route was closed off. While Tottenham’s current forwards have struggled to find the net in the league, Lankshear has hit the ground running at Championship level, scoring six goals in his first eight league games plus two more in the Carabao Cup — form that’s already earned him an England under-21 call-up from Lee Carsley.
Hellberg says what stands out about Lankshear isn’t just the finishing but how he handles the misses. The Swede explained that the striker takes every chance seriously and gets visibly frustrated when he doesn’t score, in training as much as matches, but never lets a missed opportunity linger — he resets instantly and goes again, celebrating even minor goals in possession drills with real enthusiasm. Hellberg pointed to a game against QPR where Lankshear barely touched the ball yet still found the net, calling it proof of how efficiently he operates inside the box and how well the rest of the squad has adapted to picking him out in dangerous areas.
With Roberto De Zerbi recently asked whether he regrets selling him — and saying he doesn’t — attention on Lankshear has only grown, but Hellberg says the youngster is coping well with it. He credited the club’s squad depth and internal competition for keeping standards high, along with regular one-on-one support for players adjusting to a new environment. Having arrived with limited pre-season training, Lankshear has still worked his way into the group quickly, and Hellberg praised his attitude both on the pitch and in support of teammates when he isn’t playing, calling him “a very good lad to work with.”
