Harry Kane has admitted "a lot needs to change" for Tottenham to be successful again and his upcoming meeting with chairman Daniel Levy will show just how much of that can happen amid links with Arne Slot.
Spurs are being tipped to make a move for Feyenoord head coach Slot if, as expected, his agent Rafaela Pimenta tells the Eredivisie champions in a meeting reportedly planned for Wednesday that the 44-year-old is keen to take over at the north London club next season.
There is understood to be some regret within Tottenham that they did not make more headway in following up interest in Erik ten Hag back in 2021 when the then Ajax boss was open to the move. Ten Hag would eventually move to Manchester United a season later and has enjoyed success in his debut campaign in the Premier League.
READ MORE: The Harry Kane stance and the advice Daniel Levy must heed with Tottenham set for huge changes
Now with Slot becoming the current big thing in Dutch football after his eye-catching tenures at both Feyenoord and AZ, with comparisons drawn by some to former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs may well want to ensure they do not miss the boat this time around.
If the highly-rated Dutchman, who is a big fan of Pep Guardiola's use of space on a football pitch, does become Tottenham's permanent replacement for Antonio Conte then he will look to bring high-energy, attacking football built on a strong defence to the club.
His high pressing 4-3-3 formation at Feyenoord has brought goals aplenty with young striker Santiago Gimenez benefiting through the middle from the chances created with 28 goals this campaign.
Within a sub-par, inconsistent Spurs team Kane has somehow managed 28 Premier League goals alone this season, a figure that would have been enough to win the Golden Boot not only last season but in 19 of the campaigns since the competition began 31 years ago.
Now Kane, who scooped all of the club's supporters' player of the season awards, admits he is set to speak to Levy once again about how Tottenham can be fixed, this time with just 12 months remaining on his contract.
"I’ve said all along I’m focused on this season and trying to help the team as much as possible. That’s all I can do," he said after being asked about his future. "There’s a big summer ahead and a lot that needs to change here to start being successful again.
"Ultimately my focus now is to enjoy this last week as much as possible and try to finish with a win [at Leeds United] on Sunday."
He added: "I think there’s a conversation [with the chairman] to be had anyway in terms of some of the values of the club. It will be a conversation, we’ve had many conversations before like that on how we can improve, and that will be the case again."
In an ideal world everything at Spurs would be rebuilt around what Kane wants in order to keep him happy. One player is never meant to be bigger than a club but the 29-year-old England captain has been carrying this particular institution on his shoulders in recent years and looks drained by the experience.
Kane at least deserves to have a major say in what comes next if he is to stick around. He has been increasingly vocal in recent weeks about the lost values at the club and again on Saturday he was talking about making changes and improvements for next season.
A mural to Kane was painted opposite the stadium although, while a fine gesture, the prolific forward will need more than paint to convince him of the club's ambition for next season and beyond. Even he admitted that while he loved seeing the mural with his family, everything had lost its sheen after the 3-1 defeat to Brentford to end the club's home campaign and the awkward walk around the pitch after the match was similar.
"I’m extremely grateful to the guys for doing [the mural]," Kane said. "It’s nice to have those memories. I was there with my family and kids and it was nice for them to see that as well. As always these things never feel quite as good when you don’t get the result the next day. Even walking round the pitch doesn’t feel as good. That’s life, we have to take it on the chin and get ready for next week.
"It’s hard. You feel responsible. We wanted to send the fans home happy. You want to enjoy the moment with your family but the fans can’t enjoy it as much as we would have done. We have to keep battling, keep working and try to send the away fans home happy on Sunday."
Kane admits the players just want this torrid season to end but wished they had ended on a better note than the recent weeks have brought.
"It’s been a difficult season," he said. "I think we want it to end but we wanted it to end on a couple of wins. We fully believed that was possible after the way we played in the first half.
"Brentford are only a point behind us so it shows any team can punish you. The league is getting tougher and if you don’t keep on top of things you can find yourself dropping down to mid-table and that’s where we’ve been in the last couple of months."
He added: "It’s been a tough season for a lot of the players. It’s never easy playing at this highest level and performing week in and week out. That’s what separates the best teams from the teams where we are now. I’ve said all season long we have to show more consistency but it’s easier said than done. There’s still a lot of work to do and all we can do now is prepared for the final game of the season."
Kane's future will continue to be the subject of plenty of speculation in the weeks ahead as Spurs look to try to tempt him into a new contract as part of the club's rebuild.
Ryan Mason shot down any suggestion after the game that Kane may have been waving goodbye to the fans on his walk around the pitch.
"No, he waves at the crowd every season. I remember sitting here two years ago, and you guys were convinced he was leaving, saying the same thing," he said in his press conference. "It's the last home game of the season so he wants to show his appreciation to the support he's received, and we've all received this season."
Peter Crouch admitted during BT Sport's coverage of Saturday's game that after his pre-match interview with Kane he doesn't think the striker knows what this summer holds.
"'I did ask him the question (if that was his last home game for Spurs) and he was very diplomatic in his answer. I don't think even he knows," said the former England and Tottenham forward. "He might have ambitions to go somewhere else and potentially win a trophy but it’s not just down to him, he still has a year left.
"There’s a man at the club that doesn't want to lose his star player and what would it mean to these fans to lose a player of Kane’s calibre? Where can he go? Manchester City City is sewn up now. Manchester United is the only real option I can see. You can’t go to Chelsea. You can’t go to Arsenal.
"Newcastle is potentially an option but I still feel that’s a sideways move. Newcastle have got great potential but I feel like he might as well stay at Tottenham."
The pressure on Levy is a problem for any potential exit for Kane as the Spurs chairman simply cannot open the door to what would come his way from the fans if he let the striker leave, particularly after this woeful season for the club and many fans angry with him not stepping in to prevent Pochettino from heading to Chelsea among other things.
Spurs continue to state firmly that they have no intention of selling Kane this summer. Many outside the club suggest Levy cannot afford to allow him to leave for free in 2024, but others inside Tottenham might counter that it's worth the money for another season at the least with a man who has scored almost half of their goals this campaign in the Premier League. The money spent on a replacement or two would certainly not guarantee the same return.
In the summer of 2024 the power shifts into Kane's hands but that also gives Spurs a year to convince the striker that they can change around him and that they can win the silverware missing from his record-laden CV.
If Tottenham do not change for the better then they face the prospect of drifting down a Premier League table of teams that will only continue to get stronger next season and Kane is currently the north London club's sole lifejacket.
If Slot does arrive then while he might not be one of the glamour appointments Spurs have previously made in an attempt to impress Kane, the Dutchman would look to restore many of the core values the striker is looking for, not least the fast, free-flowing attacking football that he relished playing under Pochettino and the inclusion of younger, hungry talented players committed to the cause.
Spurs want a new project manager in the mould of their former Argentine and Slot was identified as one of the prime candidates with the potential to rebuild as he did and Feyenoord and bring the club back together with his ideals as Spurs narrow down their search for a director of football with a similar philosophy of exciting football.
Tottenham need to change direction for the sake of Harry Kane but mostly for themselves. It's not always about appointing the biggest name, it's about appointing the right one.
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