3 Reasons why Harry Kane should stay at Tottenham Hotspur

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has made the current time period a strange one for fans of football. But for fans of Tottenham Hotspur, things got a little more worrying this weekend when star striker Harry Kane stated in an interview with the BBC that he could leave the club if the team does not progress because he wants to win trophies “sooner rather than later”.

The England captain claimed he’ll always love Spurs, but couldn’t guarantee that he’d stay forever – a statement that likely piqued the interest of clubs such as Manchester United, who have recently been linked with a summer move for the striker.

But should Kane really look to leave North London? And would this summer really be the right time to do so? The answer is most likely no.

Here are 3 reasons why Harry Kane should stay at Tottenham.

#1 He needs to give Jose Mourinho a proper chance

Kane should give Jose Mourinho a full season to prove his worth at Spurs

Tottenham’s decision in November 2019 to fire longtime boss Mauricio Pochettino and replace him with Jose Mourinho has come under plenty of scrutiny in the current season, not least because the side’s results haven’t taken that much of an upturn since the Portuguese arrived, despite Spurs climbing up the table back into Champions League contention since that time.

It’s true also that Mourinho’s most recent stints in charge of Chelsea and Manchester United hardly ended well – the Portuguese left both Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford under a black cloud – but despite this, the truth is that he is a proven serial winner who has brought silverware to every club that he’s ever managed at, even if things went bad eventually.

Even at Manchester United – where he seemed to come under the most criticism – he was able to lead the Red Devils to victories in the FA Cup and Europa League. Everyone knows Tottenham fans have been desperate to win a trophy for years – their last one came in 2008 – and so essentially, Daniel Levy has brought in the manager who knows better than most how to do that.

So would Kane really be smart to abandon ship before Mourinho has had a full season to impose his methods onto Spurs? Well, no. The England captain has even praised the Portuguese in recent interviews and has stated that he was excited to work with such a credentialed boss. Simply put, it’d be ridiculous to judge Mourinho’s Tottenham reign on a season in which he took over a clearly damaged side after 4 months of action and with just one transfer window to work with.

If Kane has any admiration for Mourinho – and he clearly does – then he’d be far better to give the Portuguese at least one full season to attempt to bring trophies to Tottenham before considering a move.

#2 His contract status would mean he’d need to force a move and become a villain

To leave Spurs, Kane would need to force his way out - ruining his reputation in the process

Tottenham fans love Harry Kane more than any other player, and as much of that is to do with his story as it is his skills on the pitch. The England captain joined the club at the age of 11, has supported them for most of his life, and broke through into the first team at White Hart Lane in 2014 after years of hard work and loan moves. The famous chant that states that Kane is “one of (Spurs) own” tells no lies.

Kane himself recently stated how much he loves Spurs, in the same interview that he also claimed he’d consider a move away from North London if it meant that he’d have the opportunity to win trophies. The only problem? If the England captain is to leave Tottenham, due to his current contract status – unless the club were to decide to cash in on him – he’d essentially have to force his way out, becoming the biggest villain since Sol Campbell in the eyes of Spurs fans in the process.

Kane is currently under contract until 2024 and is paid somewhere along the lines of £200,000 per week plus bonuses. The fact that he has four years to go on his current deal – and likely wouldn’t see a huge jump in wages at another club – means that if Spurs don’t want to sell him, they hold practically all of the cards for at least another two years.

If Kane really wants out, then, he’d probably have to place a transfer request – which would likely be denied – before being forced to behave in a disruptive and unprofessional manner, something that just doesn’t appear to be in his character at all.

And if he were to do that and force a move to somewhere like Manchester United, his name would instantly become mud at Tottenham. Campbell clearly didn’t mind that, but would that really suit a lifelong Tottenham fan like Kane? The likely answer is no. Therefore he’s probably going to be with Spurs for at least another two seasons anyway, whether or not he wants to move.

#3 The best moves for him may not be possible anyway

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy would be loathed to do business with Manchester United

The statement that Harry Kane would only wish to leave Tottenham to win trophies means that his scope for a new club is already pretty narrow, and in reality, that scope may be even narrower than people think. Any club wanting to buy Kane would likely have to splash out a fee possibly even bigger than the world-record £200 million that Paris Saint-Germain paid for Neymar in 2017, which means only a certain few clubs could afford him in the first place.

Of those teams, the Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona would definitely offer him the opportunity to win trophies, but would they move for Kane right now? Real have been linked with the likes of Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe, and so the England captain may not actually be on their radar. And Barca are supposedly targeting Inter Milan’s Lautaro Martinez as a replacement for the ageing Luis Suarez, meaning Kane may well be going ignored by them too.

That brings us back to the Premier League. While it’s almost certain that Daniel Levy wouldn’t want to sell his talisman to a rival, it’s still worth exploring. Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton has recently stated that Kane would be “stupid” not to leave Spurs for Manchester City or Liverpool, but would either side actually attempt to buy him?

For Liverpool, the answer is almost certainly no. Kane is already 26 years old, has an extensive injury history and wouldn’t really fit into Jurgen Klopp’s way of playing – with a fleet-footed front trio rather than a single target-man – so we can probably rule out a move to Anfield.

City could certainly afford the Spurs striker, even at a world-record fee, but with their finances currently under scrutiny – and the team likely banned from Europe for the next two years – they may not want to make any major moves in the transfer market in the near future anyway.

Manchester United have been the team most linked with a move for Kane, but would a move to Old Trafford really offer any more guarantee of a trophy than staying at Spurs does? In all honesty, no, particularly if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer remains in charge of the Red Devils.

More to the point, Spurs and United have plenty of acrimonies when it comes to transfers, with both sides looking to avoid doing business following the controversy over Dimitar Berbatov’s move to Old Trafford in 2008. It simply seems unlikely that Levy would ever even consider the thought of selling Kane to the Red Devils.

With that in mind, then, assuming neither of the Spanish giants are tempted, it doesn’t leave the England captain with too many options. With that in mind, why make a move that doesn’t make sense? He’d be far better off simply staying at Spurs for the time being – and seeing what Mourinho can do with a full season.