THE REAL DEAL
Kane hints he’ll stay at Spurs after hailing ’fantastic’ Conte
HARRY KANE has praised Tottenham’s “ambition” in landing Antonio Conte and suggested he is now ready to remain at the club.
The England captain has scored just once in his past six club matches and has cut a disconsolate figure since being denied a dream move to Manchester City in the summer.
But Kane, who forced an own goal in the 3-2 Europa Conference League win over Vitesse Arnhem on Thursday night, is energised by Conte’s arrival as manager.
The striker said: “It shows great ambition. His resume speaks for itself, everyone knows how highly thought of he is and what he has done as a manager.
“You have to respect that. He will work as hard as he can to improve us but it is about us as players taking it in, learning and making sure we give ourselves every opportunity to win. We have a manager and a club that believe in us.”
Conte has promised to make Spurs stronger in the same way that he inspired Inter Milan to success.
Kane, right, maintained the vow is music to his ears as he desperately attempts to end his trophy drought.
“It has only been three days but he is a fantastic manager,” he said.
“We haven’t reached the standards we have wanted to over the last couple of years but we hope this manager can help us turn it around.
“It’s about us and how we take it in. He has nothing to prove, he has done it on the biggest stage with the biggest teams. Now it is down to us as players to have no excuses. We have to make sure every minute we are trying to improve and win for this team. That is the only way we are going to move forward.
“I always believe in myself. I am 28, I have still got a lot to learn. It’s not been the start I wanted, the team wanted or the club wanted. “We all have to take responsibility for that. I will keep working and I am really excited about working with this manager. I am sure he can improve me and that is an exciting thing.”
Rafa Benitez has warned Everton fans not to expect a January spending spree to solve the club’s woes. Instead, the new Blues boss insists he must sort out historical problems that have seen much of the £400million that owner Farhad Moshiri has invested in players gone to waste.
Everton looked poor while losing their last three matches.
Now they face their hardest run of fixtures, taking in Spurs, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester.
“We will have some money to spend but I don’t think that will be too much,” Benitez said. When we talk about the owner, who has spent £400million in the last years, we cannot blame him for that.
“But at the same time it is a pity we couldn’t spend the money this year because of Financial Fair Play [Rules]. We have to be creative and think how to manage the situation in the best way and be sure that in January we can be stronger.
“We have to be sure we improve things that maybe weren’t right. If not, then you cannot justify why we are where we are after spending the fourth most in the last five years.”