Top of new Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou’s in-tray this month will be talks with Harry Kane, a summer target for Real Madrid.
Spurs maintain that Kane will not be sold to a Premier League rival under any circumstances, but a serious offer from Madrid would be altogether harder to dismiss out of hand, given the England captain has entered the final year of his contract.
The case for keeping Kane is simple: he is Spurs’s best player by a country mile and his sentimental value to the club can hardly be overstated.
There is simply no combination of replacements Spurs could realistically sign, even with an £80-100million windfall, that would fill the Kane-shaped hole in the squad, particularly considering their mixed record in the market.
Losing their greatest-ever modern player would rip the beating heart out of the club and immediately rob the team of its focal point and dressing-room leader, not to mention 30 League goals last season — more than 40 per cent of their total.
Spurs without Kane would have next to no chance of returning to the Champions League next season and would genuinely be in danger of slipping into the bottom half.
With him, they still have a shot of a top-four finish (they were in or around fourth place for much of last season, without playing at all well), which would entirely justify the financial risk of Kane walking away for nothing in summer 2024.
Aside from Kane’s impact on the pitch, he is such an elite professional, his impact in setting and maintaining standards would also be invaluable to Postecoglou, whose task includes reforming the very culture of the club, as well as improving performances and results.
Kane’s departure this summer would, therefore, be a hammer blow to Postecoglou, putting a downer on Spurs’s new era before it has begun and leaving the Australian contending with the mother of all rebuilds and a leadership vacuum (captain Hugo Lloris has already said he wants a new challenge away from the club).
Keeping Kane would also ensure Spurs have another year under a progressive and persuasive head coach to ultimately convince him to stay put forever. Who knows, this time next year, a revitalised Spurs could be the most attractive offer on the table for Kane and his young family.
This time next year, a revitalised Spurs could be the most attractive offer on the table for Kane
The case for selling Kane is harder to prosecute, but also centres largely around his brilliance. Spurs have never been ‘the Harry Kane team’ more and, arguably, their reliance on him has reached the point of being unhealthy.
Perhaps it would be better in the long run to cut him loose now and turbo-charge the much-needed rebuild by handing Postecoglou the full fee to rebuild a young, hungry squad in his own image. In time, other players could emerge from Kane’s shadow, take on more responsibility and flourish. No one man, after all, is bigger than the club.
Life without Kane would surely be extremely rocky at first but, after all, Postecoglou has said it typically takes six months to a year for his teams to “bed in”, so next season promises to be a year of transition, regardless of whether he stays or goes.
Refusing to let him leave also raises the possibility that Postecoglou spends next season building a new-look, ultra-attacking team around Kane, only for the striker to walk away on a free next summer and leave the manager effectively having to start over again.
Kane also threatens to become a distraction next term if he stays put without signing a new deal, his future casting a constant cloud over the club, much in the same way that Antonio Conte’s uncertain position came to dominate the discourse, creating uncertainty and instability.
Finally, allowing Kane to join Madrid this summer gives Spurs control over his destination — and his chances of eventually coming back.
Sell this summer, and Spurs can rebuff any interest from their big-six rivals and pack Kane off to Spain with an agreement that they can have first refusal in the likely event that he decides he wants to return to England to finish the job of breaking Alan Shearer’s Premier League goals record.
Keep Kane another year, and Spurs may be powerless to stop him joining Manchester United, Manchester City or, heaven forbid, Chelsea.
Postecoglou, chairman Daniel Levy, Spurs’s incoming chief football officer Scott Munn and the club’s yet-to-be-appointed director of football will all have their own thoughts and, obviously, Kane’s preferences are likely to have a leading say in the club’s thinking; he has previously been reluctant to uproot his family and move overseas, especially with Shearer’s record on line, but few players say no to Real Madrid.
If, and it remains an if, Madrid do make Kane the focus of all their attentions for the rest of the summer, there is plenty for all parties to consider.
