It’s Levy ambition that will decide if Kane is willing to keep it real at Tottenham
AND so Real Madrid’s charm offensive towards the next player they believe the Gods created specifically for the Bernabeu, begins.
And for Harry Kane it begins the way it always begins, with oily flattery. “Harry The Strong” screamed the front page of Real’s unofficial inhouse national newspaper Marca as Spurs landed in the Spanish capital. “He is the complete player” raved manager Zinedine Zidane, as rumours of a £150million summer bid suddenly surfaced. Real are “obliged” to sign players like Kane “to maintain their pre-eminent status”, chipped in former president Ramon Calderon. Thus starts another drawnout tapping-up by Real, safe in the knowledge that it won’t be deemed illegal by the men who run football. Just seen as a sort of Darwinist model of natural selection. The weak inevitably being eaten by the strong. Maybe Real were encouraged by Kane saying a fortnight ago that when it comes to playing abroad, “you never rule anything out.” He qualified it by saying he was “very happy” at Spurs and that is all he’s focussing on. But, as Spurs learned with Luka Modric and Gareth Bale, Real have a habit of blurring a player’s focus, then switching it to the Bernabeu. Will Kane be able to resist? With four-and-a-half years left on his contract he’s going nowhere. But the summer after next, when he turns 26 and approaches his peak, if he’s receiving the same attention, will he decide it’s time to force a move? The fans believe he feels the same passion for Spurs as they do. Harry Redknapp agrees, calling him “old school” and predicting “he’ll know when he’s well off and stay at Tottenham.” And Mauricio Pochettino brushed away questions about Kane’s future in Madrid by saying his player could become a one-club l egend li ke Francesco Totti. Which he may well do, especially if this impressive Spurs start winning titles. But if they don’t, Kane may consider what Totti said last year about his only regret being not joining Real Madrid when he had the chance. He may think about Steve Mcmanaman and Gareth Bale resisting intense pressure to stay in England, moving to Real and scoring goals that won Champions League finals. And he may feel he doesn’t want any such regrets when he retires. One thing is certain, now the starting gun’s been fired in Madrid Kane will regularly be asked where his long-term ambitions lie. But maybe the answer lies in Spurs chairman Daniel Levy’s immediate ambitions for his club. It may partly depend on whether Levy learned anything from Danny Rose’s explosive attack on his pay-cap following Kyle Walker’s lucrative move to Manchester City in the summer. Rose announced he had one big contract left in him and knew his worth. He said he wanted to win trophies and see players signed whose names he didn’t have to Google for recognition. It was a fearsome shot across Levy’s bows, which ominously for him, was met with applause from Rose’s team-mates. The need to offer their top talents what they can earn elsewhere will put enormous pressure on Spurs’ pay-cap over the next couple of years. Levy needs to find a way around it because the problem is wider than Harry Kane. You can build the finest stadium in the land but if you can’t keep “one of your own” then you’ll probably struggle to keep your other top stars, or your highly sought-after manager, for much longer.