Tottenham are very much in a period of transition currently with Jose Mourinho still getting to grips with his team and organising his shortlist for summer recruits.
Important players from the last few seasons like Christian Eriksen and Danny Rose have left, with the latter joining Newcastle on loan in January, while Jan Vertonghen could head for the exit door.
It is critical, therefore, that Mourinho doesn’t allow any other key players to leave, particularly Harry Kane, with the England captain arguably our most important player.
The 26-year-old recently told Jamie Redknapp of his love for the club, but stressed that he wouldn’t stick around in North London for the sake of it, and would instead look for a move elsewhere if he felt the club wasn’t progressing.
Do you think Kane will leave in the summer?
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That should cause concern. Spurs have clearly declined on the pitch, exiting the FA Cup and the Champions League at an early stage, while sitting in eighth place in the Premier League.
Seeing Eriksen leave could have caused disillusion to grow, too, and Gary Lineker believes it would be understandable if the striker pushed for a move away.
Speaking to talkSPORT, the former Spurs player said:
“It would be unthinkable for a player of Harry Kane’s stature if he didn’t win anything in his entire career.
“You can’t criticise him too much for having that view; he’s been at the club for a long time and he’s been brilliant.
“And he might well stay there, they might possibly develop, but you’d say they’re four or five players short of certainly challenging for the title.”
It is brilliant to have ambitious players in the squad like Kane, but as we saw with Eriksen that ambition can spill into unhappiness, as these players deserve to be winning trophies.
That pair have both given tremendous service to the club and got little in return, so nobody should begrudge their desire to leave, should Kane reach such a point.
Instead, the club has to start showing the same ambition. The new stadium is a major part of that, but key signings in the summer will go a long way to meeting Mourinho’s expectations, and that of the squad and fans, meaning we can start afresh in the summer and start building towards the title once more.
Do not be at all surprised if Levy does not sign anyone whatsoever in the forthcoming transfer window. Valid or not, he will cite the coronavirus as the reason.