Harry Kane says he will not stay at Spurs 'for the sake of it'
Harry Kane has revealed he will not simply stay at Tottenham “for the sake of it” and would consider his Spurs future if the north London club stopped progressing. He has also said that the Premier League season should be scrapped if it cannot be completed by the end of June.
The 26-year-old England captain, contracted until 2024, has previously suggested he could stay with his boyhood club for his entire career but in an Instagram Live chat with Jamie Redknapp he said: “I love Spurs, I’ll always love Spurs but I’ve always said if I don’t feel we’re progressing as a team or going in the right direction, I’m not someone to stay there for the sake of it.
“I’m an ambitious player, I want to improve, get better and become one of the top, top players. It all depends on what happens as a team and how we progress as a team. So it’s not a definite I’m going to stay there forever, but it’s not a no either.”
He talked about life under José Mourinho, who replaced Mauricio Pochettino but has struggled to lift a team who were eighth in the Premier League and out of the FA Cup and Champions League when play was suspended. “Next year would be the first chance for the gaffer to have a pre-season, and bed his values into the team. So we’ll see what happens. Of course I want to win trophies, and to do that sooner rather than later.”
Asked about working with Mourinho, Kane continued: “It’s been good. What you see is what you get. He’s an honest guy. If he likes you, he’ll tell you; if he doesn’t like you, he’ll tell you. From my point of view I’ve built a good relationship with him.
“It’s great to work under a manager like José … I’m excited to see how that relationship unfolds, and I know he’s excited to put his stamp on the team. From a players’ point of view we know we’ve got a top, top manager, so it’s up to us to go out and perform.”
Kane has not played since rupturing a hamstring tendon on 1 January but confirmed he should be ready for action as and when the Premier League returns. The campaign has been suspended until 30 April at the earliest because of the coronavirus pandemic though many top-flight clubs are resigned to the shutdown being extended, with games possibly being played behind closed doors. Kane’s view is that it would be unworkable and impractical for the season to drift into the summer months.
“I know the Premier League will do everything they can to finish the season and that they are looking at every option possible,” Kane said. “We do need to try to finish the season but there needs to be a point where enough’s enough. Playing into July or August and pushing next season back, I don’t see too much benefit in that.
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“Probably the limit for me is the end of June. If the season’s not completed by then we need to look at the options and just look forward to next season.”
Kane echoed the opinion of Aleksander Ceferin, the president of Uefa, who warned on Saturday that the season may never be completed if it cannot be restarted by June.
Ceferin said behind-closed-doors games would have to be considered if leagues were to finish across Europe but dismissed the notion of the Champions League or Europa League finals being played without fans present.
“If we don’t succeed in restarting, the season will probably be lost,” he told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “Nobody knows when the pandemic will end. There is a plan A, B and C. The three options are to start again in mid-May, in June or at the end of June. There is also the possibility of starting again at the beginning of the next [season], starting the following one later. We will see the best solution for leagues and clubs.”
