Spurs need to get nasty as Kane D-Day looms

SO maybe now, after all the brinkmanship and all these years, the time is nigh for Harry Kane to begin the next phase of his record-chasing career. Manchester United are considering a summer swoop for the Tottenham striker, who is believed to be open to joining Erik ten Hag’s squad.

Kane will be 30 this summer and the England captain enters the final year of his contract at the end of the season. It’s not quite now or never. But with every passing window, more escape routes close.

The striker has made no secret of his wishlist: he wants to win trophies and to break the Premier League goals record held by Alan Shearer. Jimmy

Greaves’ Spurs record will fall — perhaps tonight at Fulham — with Kane a solitary goal behind. To catch Shearer he needs another 62. That would require staying in England, but the chance to join United won’t be there for ever. Ten Hag needs a No 9 and has other options. As for Kane’s trophy hunt? Well, Spurs remain in this season’s FA Cup and Champions League. Their chances of landing either looked slim even before this week, when the fires began to spread in north London. Chairman Daniel Levy must now resolve Kane’s future once more. He must tackle a problem like Fabio Paratici, too. Tottenham’s managing director of football has been banned for 30 months by the Italian FA over his time at Juventus, with the club said to have overstated the value of transfer fees to navigate financial rules. Juventus and Paratici deny that and have vowed to appeal. Levy must decide the fate of Antonio Conte too. The manager’s contract is up this summer — Spurs can extend it by 12 months — his mark is slipping and his side sit six points off the top four.

After defeats by Manchester City and Arsenal, Spurs must respond at Fulham. Another loss would see them leapfrogged by Marco Silva’s side.

Conte has conceded that Spurs’ recent defensive record — 21 goals conceded in 10 Premier League games — is relegation form. Individual mistakes have become an unhealthy habit too. ‘In the last period we are paying a lot from this type of situation,’ said Conte. ‘But I don’t like to stay here and to cry. We have not to cry, or to complain or to find an alibi.’

Instead, Conte says Spurs must learn to be nasty once more. ‘Don’t lose what we created last season, the solidity, the desire to defend the result, the desire to win duels and don’t lose the nastiness,’ the manager warned. The return of Richarlison should help. But can Kane and Son Heung-min be nasty?

‘You can change totally the characteristics of a single player. ‘The nastiness, the desire to fight, to win duels, I think has to be in every single player,’ said Conte. Even Kane. However long he is around.