Tottenham face battle to keep Harry Kane if they fail to land silverware with striker to consider future in the summerShould chairman Daniel Levy receive the news he and Jose Mourinho are dreading at end of season, Spurs would value Kane upwards of £150m
By
Matt Law,
FOOTBALL NEWS CORRESPONDENT
3 March 2020 • 10:30pm
Harry Kane will consider his Tottenham Hotspur future in the summer with the club facing a battle to convince the striker he does not need to move to take his career to the next level. Head coach Jose Mourinho and chairman Daniel Levy are determined to do everything in their power to keep Kane, with the Portuguese admitting that Spurs cannot overhaul the current squad during the summer. Failure to qualify for the Champions League could leave Mourinho with as little as £50million to spend on new players, but he would be given incoming cash from sales. It remains to be seen whether or not Mourinho could convince Kane that he can fulfill his ambitions at Tottenham playing within the current squad, plus a few additions, if they once again fail to win a trophy and miss out on Champions League qualification.
Levy will believe he can hold on to Kane, who has four years remaining on his contract and is valued by Spurs at more than £150million, and may be prepared to offer the England captain a rise to his current salary of up to £200,000-a-week. Kane is currently concentrating on trying to return from hamstring surgery, which has threatened to end his season, for the final games of the campaign and in time to play for England in this summer’s European Championships. But there is a possibility Tottenham’s season could already be over by the time Kane returns, with Spurs now entering a defining period in which they face Norwich City in the FA Cup fifth round on Wednesday night ahead of Premier League matches against Burnley and Manchester United either side of their Champions League last-16 second leg against Red Bull Leipzig.
Trailing in the Champions League, Tottenham’s best chance of finishing what has been a turbulent season with silverware is the FA Cup while they cannot afford another slip in the top-four race.
Kane, who celebrates his 27th birthday this summer, has made it clear for well over a year that he now wants to win club trophies and it would also be a massive blow to Tottenham’s hopes of satisfying him if they missed out on Champions League qualification. Back-to-back defeats to Chelsea and Wolverhampton Wanderers have left Spurs in seventh place in the Premier League table, five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea and trailing Wolves and Manchester United. Kane signed a six-year contract in the summer of 2018 worth up to £200,000-a-week and Levy will believe he holds all the power in any potential talks over the player’s future. There is also the question of whether any club would be prepared to or could match Levy’s valuation of Kane. Manchester United would be interested in the England captain, along with Real Madrid.
But Real’s first-choice summer target is Kylian Mbappe and it is highly unlikely the Spanish club would sign both the France international and Kane. Other than potentially impacting the future of Kane, the final weeks of the season will have a bearing on Mourinho’s ability to add to his squad during the summer. Regardless of whether Kane stays or goes, Mourinho wants another striker and will look at signing a right-back and a new central defender. But he will need to sell players to boost the projected budget, which Telegraph Sport understands will be around £50m if Tottenham miss out on the Champions League, and has ruled out big changes.
“No, not massive changes,” said Mourinho. “First of all, that's not what we think we need. Second, because of the profile of our club and third because of what the market is. Year after year, it's more difficult. I'm not thinking of an overhaul, but of course we need to make our squad better.”
Mourinho will also be asked by Levy to keep offering chances to Tottenham’s home-grown players. The chairman was delighted to see Harry Winks captain the club against Wolves and has been pleased to see Japhet Tanganga promoted.
Levy is convinced that, given time, 18-year-old striker Troy Parrott can also save the club millions in the transfer market as Tottenham look to be a self-sustaining club for future generations.
Mourinho confirmed Parrott will be among the substitutes for the Norwich game, saying: “He will be on the bench. We are taking very good care of him. We cannot tell you every single detail. We are taking care of a player and a young boy. He's 18, but one month ago he was 17.
"We are taking good care of him. Yesterday we decided it was good for him to play [for the U23s] but only for 45 minutes. The objective was to get some football. He has qualities, he has potential. He's not an end product and he has a lot to develop at every level.
“He has two Premier League appearances, something that's not normal for 18-year-olds. He has the privilege of that and training with the first team and the very good people in the academy. Step by step.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/03/03/tottenham-face-battle-keep-harry-kane-fail-land-silverware-striker/
