HE has always been underestimated more often than he is appreciated, Harry Kane.
For example, the mind whirrs back to Volgograd in 2018 and a press conference on the eve of England’s opening World Cup match against Tunisia.
Spurs could face a big fight to keep hold of their star man Harry KaneCredit: Getty – Contributor
Cristiano Ronaldo, the greatest goalscorer of all, had just opened his campaign with a hat-trick for Portugal against Spain.
Kane was asked, light-heartedly, whether he fancied his chances of winning the Golden Boot.
When the England skipper answered seriously and bullishly, many in the room laughed out loud. I think I stifled a giggle myself.
Kane, though, ended up as the tournament’s highest scorer with six goals — three penalties, two poacher’s efforts from corners and one fluke which cannoned in off his heel while he was facing the wrong way.
There I go, underplaying him again. Because goalscoring, as we know, is not about ‘how?’ but ‘how many?’
And the Tottenham striker fills onion bags with the urgency of a panic buyer.
As a youngster, Kane was loaned four times and earmarked inside Tottenham as a future captain at a Football League club — his leadership qualities and solid character regarded more highly than his footballing ability.
Even after 229 goals for club and country, Kane is still underestimated as a footballer and it is even easier to underestimate him as a man.
Like his predecessor as England captain, Wayne Rooney, Kane is sharper than he sounds.
There had been a popular belief — not just among optimistic Spurs supporters — that Kane was a Tottenham lifer, destined to be a one-club man.
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is on the lookout for a big name strikerCredit: Reuters
KANE WANTS TROPHIES
An idea that he might value all of that, ‘He’s one of our own’ sentimentality above his ambition to win trophies.
This has never been the case but any remaining doubts over Kane’s willingness to leave Spurs should have been removed by last month’s interview with Jamie Redknapp.
During that exchange, Kane said: “If I don’t feel we’re progressing as a team or going in the right direction, I’m not someone to stay there for the sake of it.”
And Spurs have regressed this season, the quality of their squad having been diluted over three years, plus Jose Mourinho’s arrival making no positive impact.
Which brings us to the prospect of Kane for Manchester United — a tale as old as time.
Now, you may believe transfer speculation during the coronavirus is glib and unedifying as horrors unfold in the wider world — and that is a very worthy opinion.
KANE’S £200M VALUE
But it would be unrealistic to imagine that opportunism in the football industry has been put on hold.
And it could be argued a good old-fashioned transfer saga is as helpful to our collective sanity during lockdown as any Netflix box set.
Kane for United will run and run this summer — whether or not the Premier League season resumes.
The England striker is no longer a young man in footballing terms.
He turns 27 in July and has never won a major trophy. The official line from Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will be that Kane is under contract for four more years and is going nowhere.
And there will be a genuine reluctance to sell to a direct domestic rival such as United.
But money also talks and while suggestions of a £200million bid might be outlandish — and would certainly spark revulsion at such a time — Spurs could be tempted to do business for substantially less.
Any buyer would point to Kane’s fitness record, showing that he has missed 32 of Tottenham’s 68 matches since January 2019, having suffered three serious injuries.
SPURS COULD BE ‘EXPLOITED’
Kane’s workload has been excessive, not least through the player’s own burning desire to rush back from lay-offs, and his body has begun to creak.
Still, there is no doubt United need a world-class centre-forward, that they are few and far between, and that Kane is becoming one of the more ‘gettable’ candidates.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was most certainly ill-advised to speak of United’s ability and desire to ‘exploit’ the aftermath of coronavirus in the transfer market.
But the Old Trafford boss was also being brutally honest.
And Tottenham are one of many clubs United could exploit.
Spurs are now paying off their £1billion stadium and Levy’s initial decision to furlough some non-footballing staff with government money — before a U-turn after a public backlash — proved that times are tight.
Just as Solskjaer, regarded as one of football’s nice guys, is ready to exploit the economic effects of the pandemic, Kane may be willing to do the same.
If you think he is a Mary Poppins type, too loyal and too compliant to attempt forcing a move, then you have just under-estimated Kane again.
GLOVE STORY
IT felt poignant to hear that Peter Bonetti had passed having watched Chelsea’s classic 1970 FA Cup Final replay win over Leeds a week ago.
The tone for that violent clash was set when Leeds striker Mick Jones clattered into Bonetti, leaving him badly injured.
Yet Bonetti, who has died aged 78, still made a string of top saves to secure his club’s first FA Cup.
That may have been his finest hour.
Chelsea legend Peter Bonetti has died aged 78 after a long battle with illness
GAG IS ON ‘EM
THEY keep telling us once this global crisis is over, the experience will change us for good in unimagined ways.
So it was reassuring to hear the Premier League have gagged Sky Sports and BT Sport from asking stars about the resumption of the season and the impact of the lockdown.
Heaven forbid someone might say something interesting. How about expert analysis of Dele Alli playing solo Twister instead?
SO VAR SO BAD
BACK when there used to be football, two sets of initials dominated the news — VAR and FFP.
VAR depends on you taking football so seriously that decisions must prioritise inch-perfect justice over excitement.
Does anyone still believe football is as important as that now?
And as for Financial Fair Play, if you still want to limit new investment in an economic meltdown, you need your head checking.
CRUSH HOUR
THE longer the Covid-19 crisis drags on, the more desperate sound plans to rush through the remainder of the football season.
One report suggests all 92 outstanding top-flight matches could be played in just 35 days, behind closed doors, in a whirlwind of televised football.
But whatever the solution — and none of us can yet know for sure — flogging players in such a manner cannot be it.
SOME light relief arrived with news Unai Emery used Google Translate to woo his English girlfriend while managing Arsenal.
Many journalists wish he made an effort to speak English so fluently with the media.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
