Harry Kane has suggested that Daniel Levy may be wise to sell him this summer because his value is at its peak, and the Tottenham striker has mentioned £100m as a potentially acceptable figure. Kane, who is determined to get a move away – most likely to Manchester City – also feels he should not be held against his will after giving his all for Spurs since joining as an 11-year-old.
“As players, you don’t know what the chairman’s thinking,” Kane told the Sky pundit Gary Neville in an interview for The Overlap podcast. “I mean he might want to sell me. He might be thinking: ‘If I can get £100m for you, then why not?’ You know what I mean. I’m not going to be worth that for the next two or three years.
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“I hope … I mean, we have a good enough relationship. I’ve given the club – well, I’ve been there 16 years of my life. So I hope we can have a good honest conversation and see where we’re at in that aspect.”
Kane’s interview with Neville, which will be released in full on Friday, was recorded at the start of the month and some of it has been overtaken by events – not least the fact it is now public knowledge that the player wants a transfer, the story having broken on Monday night. Kane says that “I never said I’d stay at Spurs for the rest of my career; I’d never say that I would leave Spurs,” and also says he is “not rushing anything, I’m not desperate to do anything”.
The England captain talks about needing a meeting with Levy, rather than having had one. It is still unclear whether he has had the conversation in person, although it is known his desire to leave has been communicated. Neville asks Kane, who is desperate to win trophies having failed to do so, whether he is approaching a crossroads. “I think so,” Kane replies. “I think it’s definitely a conversation to be had with the club. I want to be playing in the biggest games, the biggest moments. This season I’m watching the Champions League, the English teams in there doing amazing, and they are the games I want to be involved in.
“So for sure it’s a moment in my career where I have to reflect and see where I’m at and have a good honest conversation with the chairman. I hope we can have that conversation. I’m sure he’ll want to set out the plan of where he sees it. But ultimately it’s going to be down to me and how I feel and what’s going to be the best for me in my career at this moment in time.”
The last assertion is questionable, with Levy against the notion of selling a player who remains under contract for three years. What the Neville interview does represent is the latest step in Kane’s exit strategy. The timelines are a little blurred and at no point does the player say explicitly that he wants to leave, but it does not take much to read between the lines.
“I don’t want to come to the end of my career and have any regrets so I want to be the best I can be,” Kane said. “I’m at that stage where you could say people might look at it as though he’s desperate for trophies, he needs trophies. I still feel like I’ve got almost another career to play. I’ve got seven, eight years … kind of what I’ve had so far in the Premier League. I’ve still got so much more to give.
“I’m not afraid to say I want to be the best. I’m not afraid to say I want to try and get on the level that Ronaldo and Messi got to. That’s my ultimate goal – to be winning trophies season in, season out; scoring 50, 60, 70 goals, season in, season out.”
