Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has been tipped to push for a transfer this summer if the club fails to finish in the Premier League top four and qualify for the Champions League.
Kane’s future at Spurs has become the subject of increasing speculation amid ongoing concerns that he has become frustrated by the club’s lack of competitiveness at the highest level.
Individually, the 27-year-old has returned to his best form this season after injuries limited his output in each of the last two seasons, but Spurs will end another campaign without a trophy unless they can upset the odds and beat Manchester City in this month’s EFL Cup final.
Even success in that competition, which would represent a first career trophy for Kane, might not be enough. Spurs have gone backwards in the Premier League since finishing second in 2016/17 and were embarrassed in the Europa League this season when they collapsed against Dinamo Zagreb.
According to The Athletic, Kane is ‘running out of patience’ at Spurs and is ‘prepared’ to inform the club hierarchy that is ready for a new challenge if they fall short of the minimum objectives, while he is said to feel the biggest prizes are ‘more distant’ than when he signed his current contract in 2018.
Kane is legitimately among the best strikers in the world, but should Spurs fail to qualify for the Champions League it would be a second consecutive year out of the elite competition at his peak.
The England captain has already been linked with both Real Madrid and Manchester City in recent weeks. Manchester United are also in the market for a striker and The Athletic adds them into the mix. All three clubs have eyes on Erling Haaland, but only one can win that race for the coveted Norwegian, leaving the other two to consider alternative options.
The problem for Kane if wants to leave, as well as any club wishing to pursue him, will be Tottenham, who would be expected to dig in and make any talks or negotiations difficult.
A contract until the summer of 2024 ensures that Spurs are under no pressure to sell and it was rumoured earlier this month that they have completely ruled out letting him join another Premier League club, while placing a £175m price tag on his head to scare off teams.
Kane himself has remained coy on the subject of his future. He has refused to outright discuss it but has equally skirted around the issue of potentially moving on and hasn’t ruled anything out.
“I think that’s a hard question to answer right now,” he said during the international break.
“It’s important that all my focus is on the England games coming up now and the rest of the season with Spurs and then the Euros. To be thinking about speculation or rumours would be damaging in terms of my own performance.
“I always like to be focused on one goal and one job and that’s to finish strong with Spurs, win these qualifiers with England and hopefully go on and have a great Euros. I try to stay out of that speculation as much as possible. I’m fully focused on doing the job on the pitch from now until the end of the summer and then we’ll see where we go from there.”
Spurs manager Jose Mourinho recently commented that he has not spoken to Kane about his immediate future, but insisted there has been nothing to talk about
“Three years of his contract [left]. I have nothing to speak with him. Unless he wants to speak with me about it and until now he never approached me in relation to anything,” Mourinho said.
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Source: 90min
