RESULT! HETHO
The big defender, 30, spoke in the aftermath of their 6-1 thrashing of Leicester when Kane scored four goals.
Rumours have been rife t hat Manchester City, United and Barcelona are keen on several of their stars such as Dele Alli, Kyle Walker, Eric Dier and Danny Rose.
But the Belgian believes Spurs are now genuine title contenders and but for a poor October and the fact they did not beat a rival away from home could have been champions this time around.
Kane’s goals have been the catalyst and Vertonghen said: “Harry has this unbelievable drive. With that drive he inspires the team, he has his own goals like being top scorer – and breaks his records that way.
“You can see how ambitious he is and he inspires the team with that. The goals for the team are more important than his individual goal. But we have to support him r e aching his own individual goals.
“That is why it is vital to keep these lads together. We’ve got a great team now and know that. The gaffer knows it, the chairman knows it.
“I used to play in a great Ajax team and we spoke about keeping the lads together, our dreams were about making finals and winning trophies.
“But it’s impossible for a lower team that doesn’t have the financial ability to do that.
“Tottenham does and everyone wants to be part of this team and you can see the way we play and the way we enjoy playing together, winning together. I don’t think you can find it anywhere else.
“Guys like Dele and Harry, they cherish that and then there’s Son, who is the same.
“These strikers have this unbelievable drive and they set their targets. And if you see Son, he hasn’t always been a starting player but when he came on he was so valuable for the team.” Vertonghen believes the result at the King Power Stadium on Thursday night sends out a message they are already looking forward to next season.
He added: “I am very happy. We were very professional and showed we want to win every single game until the end of the season even though nothing can change in our league position. We want to end the season well, unlike the last couple of seasons. We want to show we’re ready for a new challenge. “You see how much we’ve improved compared to last year – that is what we’re aiming to do next season, improve again. We have been working so hard on every aspect of our game – the goal difference now, the defence – we can get better again. Hopefully we can spread the goals a bit better so we can get more points next season.
“If you look back, I don’t think we won an away game against a top-six team. We can improve there.
“We had a bad month, October. We couldn’t win for five or six games and that is maybe where we lost the title. So “The disappointment and frustration is still felt because we didn’t achieve our goal of staying up. “It’s a time to analyse for everyone now.” ADRIAN STILES