Harry Kane spends further time in Florida and delays Tottenham return
Nuno Espírito Santo has admitted he is yet to speak to Harry Kane as it emerged that the striker, who is desperate to quit Tottenham and join Manchester City, had prolonged his unauthorised leave of absence, spending another day out of the UK.
Kane angered the Spurs hierarchy when he failed to report for his first day of pre-season work on Monday and it came to light that he was on a family holiday. The 28-year was in the Bahamas before moving on to Florida and he was still there on Wednesday.
The England captain intends to report to Spurs’ training ground over the weekend for a Covid test but he will not now be able to work with his teammates until the early part of next week, at best. Both the Bahamas and the United States are on England’s amber list, which necessitates at least five full days of quarantine once back in the country.
Kane would be able to undertake a day-five test which, if negative, would allow him to end his isolation. It appears the earliest that could happen would be Monday. Given his lack of training, he is certain to miss the opening round of Premier League fixtures, with Tottenham hosting City on Sunday 15 August.
“I expect to speak with Harry soon and I haven’t had the chance yet,” Nuno said, after his team’s 2-2 friendly draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night. It was a remarkable statement, given that Nuno was appointed on 30 June, but this is a remarkable situation and the manager adopted a diplomatic tone.
Kane believes he has a gentleman’s agreement with the Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, that allows him to leave this summer. Levy, though, has interpreted this differently and is against selling to a domestic rival. If he did, it would be for at least £150m for a player who has three years to run on his contract.
If Kane was watching the game at Stamford Bridge, which had a partial return of fans, he will not have enjoyed the first half, when Chelsea threatened to run riot. The evening began with Chelsea’s players forming a guard of honour for the club captain César Azpilicueta, who emerged from the tunnel to parade the Champions League trophy.
Spurs were lucky to trail only 1-0 at half-time. A feature of the first period was the sight of Nuno spinning on his heels in frustration as any one of his players either gave away possession or lost out in challenges. Chelsea were sharper and stronger and Spurs struggled to play out from the back.
The opening goal came when Lucas Moura was robbed by N’Golo Kanté and Hakim Ziyech ran at the retreating Spurs centre-halves, Japhet Tanganga and Eric Dier, before shooting low past the debutant goalkeeper, Pierluigi Gollini. Chelsea should have had a second on 22 minutes when Timo Werner took a pass from Ziyech and rounded Gollini to score, only to be flagged offside. TV replays showed he was on but there was no VAR.
Spurs were better in the second half and, after Ziyech had made it 2-0 with a shot into the bottom corner, they launched their fightback. Son Heungmin, who played most of the evening as the No9 in Nuno’s 4-3-3 system, ought to have equalised for 1-1 on 46 minutes after an Édouard Mendy fumble, but Trevoh Chalobah made a saving block.
Spurs did score when Moura’s shot deflected off Antonio Rüdiger and, after wholesale Chelsea changes, the visitors found an equaliser on 70 minutes. Malang Sarr, one of the substitutes, gave the ball away to Moura and, having collected a pass from Son, Steven Bergwijn sprinted outside Chalobah before shooting low through Mendy’s legs.
Earlier in the day, talkSPORT were forced to apologise after a caller made an offensive remark about Levy, concerning the chairman’s valuation of Kane. Despite being dumped on air, meaning it was not broadcast on radio, the remark was carried on the outlet’s YouTube channel.