‘I want the biggest prizes’: Harry Kane opens up on frustration at Tottenham
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Harry Kane has expressed frustration at a continued inability to achieve his ambition of winning major trophies at Tottenham in comments that will raise alarm about his happiness at the club.
The striker’s future has been the subject of intense discussion after he remained uncharacteristically silent in the media for several months and before saying on England duty last month that he would concentrate on the remainder of the season “and then we’ll see where we go from there”.
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Kane was part of the Spurs team that lost 1-0 to Manchester City in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final and, after the FA Cup defeat at Everton in February and the Europa League disaster at Dinamo Zagreb last month, when a 2-0 first-leg lead was surrendered, the season comes down to an uphill struggle in finish in the top four.
Kane described the campaign as “disappointing” and, for all his individual excellence since establishing himself at Spurs in 2014-15, he has yet to win a trophy. He was on the losing side in the finals of the 2019 Champions League and the 2015 League Cup and he saw Premier League title challenges in 2016 and 2017 fall away.
Kane was interviewed by Sky Sports after being named as the Premier League player of the year at the London Football Awards. He is the competition’s top goalscorer with 21 and leading assist-maker with 13.
“Individual awards are great, they are fantastic achievements,” he said. “When I look back at the end of my career, these are the things I will go over and take in more but the goal right now as a player is to win team trophies. I want to be winning the biggest prizes there is to offer and we are not quite doing that.
“It is bittersweet, I would rather be winning team trophies and this one but it is what it is. I am proud to win it, it means it’s been a good season on the pitch. So I have got to try and continue what I am doing.”
It will be extremely difficult for any club to prise Kane from Spurs this summer. The 27-year-old is under contract until June 2024, meaning that the chairman, Daniel Levy, would feel empowered to demand an astronomical fee – were he to even countenance selling him, which the club maintain he is not. And would any rival be able to find that kind of money in the coronavirus era?
One of the big questions for Kane could concern how badly he may want a transfer or, to put it another way, how badly he would be prepared to behave to force one. Spurs stars who have wanted away in the past – chiefly Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric and Gareth Bale – had to dig in hard and withdraw cooperation to varying degrees to assist moves. Berbatov went to Manchester United and Modric and Bale to Real Madrid. Bale is back at Spurs on loan.
Kane has been a Spurs player for most of his life, having joined as a boy and, ideally, he would not want to anger the club.
Spurs host Sheffield United on Sunday and, with five league games to play, they are five points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. “It has been a disappointing season, if I am totally honest,” Kane said. “We have had so many opportunities and been in so many games where we have been ahead or been in a good position going into the last 15 minutes and we haven’t quite got over the line for one reason or another.
“When we look back, we were in a great position come November and that [bad] spell over December and January really put a halt to what we were trying to achieve. We have got loads to improve on. The thing now is to try and finish strong, try and win the last five games, hopefully try and make the Champions League spot.
“It has been disappointing and as players we have to take responsibility and when we go away in the summer really focus on what we can improve on.”