Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Spurs won’t sell Kane at any cost

- Agence FrancePres­se sportm@hindustant­imes.com

HOLDING ON Manager Pochettino labels inform striker as the world’s best finisher; says their prize asset will stay at club

Mauricio Pochettino insists there is no chance Harry Kane will be allowed to leave Tottenham after his ‘special‘ striker’s four-goal blitz in the 6-1 rout of Leicester.

Kane is odds on to finish as the Premier League’s top scorer for the second successive season thanks to his lethal display at the King Power Stadium on Thursday. The England internatio­nal now has 26 goals, putting him two ahead of Everton’s Romelu Lukaku with one game remaining in the race for the golden boot.

It was the kind of predatory performanc­e that Pochettino believes further enhances Kane’s reputation as one of the world’s best finishers.

Inevitably, Europe’s top clubs will be considerin­g mega-money bids for Kane in the close season, but Pochettino has no intention of selling his prize asset at any cost.

“It is very clear we will keep the players we want to keep,” Pochettino said. “We are so calm about our key players. They are happy here, we have an exciting project.”

Kane’s fifth Premier League hat-trick in just over two years took him to 32 goals in all competitio­ns this season, four more than he managed last term and one more than the 31 he bagged in the 2014-15 season.

The 23-year-old would surely have scored more than 40 if he hadn’t missed two chunks of this season with ankle injuries, and Pochettino spoke glowing about Kane’s appetite for success.

“We feel so proud of Harry, to score four goals was fantastic,” Pochettino said.

“He was injured twice this season but he is so fresh now and he is trying to score a lot of goals to finish at the top. Harry’s a special player, he loves Tottenham. He means a lot for the team. I always tell you that he’s one of the best strikers in world. His performanc­es show that we are right.”

Kane can wrap up the golden boot by getting on the scoresheet again in Tottenham’s final game on Sunday and he is already hungry for more after his first profession­al four-goal haul. “There has

his good scoring form for the third season in a row and helped Tottenham finish second in the Premier League this season. With his four goals against Leicester on Wednesday he took his tally to 26 EPL goals, two more that Everton’s Romelu Lukaku, to lead the top-scorer’s list.

he scored 25 and 21 goals respective­ly and this time looks favourite to clinch the golden boot award for the second season in a row. Matches Goals

lot of goals for the third season in a row in the EPL, he will have to improve his scoring rate against the big teams in the league. In the nine matches he played against the fellow top-six teams, he has managed just three goals.

on the basis of their ability to turn matches against big teams and for Kane to get in the elite bracket, he needs to bring more to his game against top guns. been a bit of build-up on the race for the golden boot and I wanted at least one or two to put the pressure on but to get four is amazing,” Kane said.

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