If Not Spurs, Then Where Could Harry Kane’s Future Lie?

Maybe it’s nothing more than rumours in the media to fill gossip column inches, but it feels like there is an increasingly large elephant in the room at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. A subject that Spurs supporters dare not debate too loud, lest it somehow leads to a high-profile departure.

Enough innuendo already. It’s Tottenham talisman Harry Kane and his future. The facts are he has three years left on his current deal and said absolutely nothing about the matter. Those facts are boring, and sometimes silence can be deafening.

Honouring a contract in modern football is almost as rare as powdered unicorn horn. Managers come and go, while the best players want to play on the grandest stage. A second season without Champions League matches at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a distinct possibility next term, but the potential repercussions are almost too dire to contemplate.

It won’t be money that lures leading light Kane away from North London. He strikes almost everyone who deals with him as having that rare enough quality these days of being loyal. The desire to win things, play at the highest possible level, and better himself could see him seek new pastures, though.

With an infamously tough negotiator in Daniel Levy having to sanction any sale of Kane, it’s hard to envisage him allowing the club’s star striker to join a domestic rival. Nonetheless, Manchester City are favourites with the bookies in the market on the Spurs frontman’s next destination.

Pep Guardiola suggested when it was announced that Sergio Aguero, another prolific marksman and almost friend to all those tipsters making Premier League predictions, would be leaving the Etihad, that they couldn’t afford to replace him. Nonsense. Man City, financed by petrodollars from their ultra-wealthy Middle Eastern owners, could easily afford to take Kane from Tottenham.

_{This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY}

In Spain, there hasn’t been a Galactico signing made by Real Madrid since Eden Hazard. Money has instead been spent on renovating the Bernabeu. The spine of Los Blancos’ side has been allowed to grow old together, so Kane in his prime could be preferable to Karim Benzema with one more year left on his deal.

Barcelona may still have to prepare for life without Lionel Messi, meanwhile. Kane is a very different type of forward to the Argentine genius, yet an England and Spurs striking great from a past generation spent time playing in Catalonia. You’ve probably heard the name Gary Lineker before. The only difference with Kane is that the prospective transfer would be the other way round.

Manchester United and Chelsea are more prominent in the betting on his future than they ought to be. Foreign destinations always retain a certain exoticism, and Bayern Munich will eventually have to replace prolific Poland poach Robert Lewandowski. As Kane is a similar striker, he could be a readymade replacement for a team and style that has been the dominant force in the Bundesliga for some time.

Nobody connected with Tottenham wants Kane to go but, if things remain as they are and the club underachieves, it is better to be prepared for the worst.