I WAS surprised by Harry Kane’s announcement he was staying at Tottenham.
I thought the way it was being handled at the start suggested he was going to go.
What that says to me is that valuations weren’t met and Kane wasn’t prepared to ruin his legacy to force a move, which is the right thing to do.
He hasn’t ruined any legacy by what he has done. The only way he would have done that is if he had ‘tried’ to move and then it didn’t materialise.
There has also been a lot of talk about Kane’s PR team and how they have gone about and handled this move — but they did nothing wrong in my eyes.
I just don’t really think it’s needed at times. A little bit of honesty is needed.
If Kane came out and said, ‘Look, I fancied Manchester City because I haven’t won anything yet in my career and I am 28’ — but then also said, ‘I am a Spurs player. I have not indicated at a move but if they could have agreed something I would have left’. I don’t think anyone can argue with that.
Yet people would still argue, of course, because that’s just the world we live in.
If Kane gave £1million to charity, there would be people asking ‘Well why didn’t he give £2m?’.
If he wanted to move to City, which we can all agree he did, then fair props to him.
They play the best football and pay the best money. Why would you not want to go there?
But he is a Tottenham legend, even if he stopped playing today. He will always go down as a legend.
What we can all agree on is that a move to City would have been a step forward.
That’s no disrespect to Spurs. That’s just a fact of the matter of where they currently find themselves.
City are challenging for titles and Champions Leagues, and after the Euros that Kane had, he will have wanted to feel that buzz on a more regular basis.
Now, I think he is in a situation where his legacy will only increase at Spurs because his goal record is a joke.
You have to sit there and appreciate that.
People who score goals transform teams — that’s why City wanted him.
He would have transformed City from a title contender to outright favourites.
Kane got straight back down to business on Thursday with two goals in Spurs’ 3-1 aggregate win over Pacos de Ferreira in their Europa Conference League play-off.
And now I think he will start against my team Watford — and it will be a tough one for us.
He is so driven on scoring goals and he will want to return to winning ways, put that to bed as quickly as possible and get back to Premier League business.
The main thing is you know in the back of your mind he only needs one chance.
We know we will give away a few opportunities and we will be thinking ‘I hope he has an off day’.
He could have one shot and one goal — and we could lose 1-0.
Those elite players, that’s what they offer. Another of those is Dele Alli. I look at him as a player that achieved so much at a young age and then has had to rediscover himself as a man.
What more does he need to achieve? He may have never thought he would play for a top club or play for England. His aspiration may have just been to play for MK Dons.
He may have reached the pinnacle with the mentality he had at that time and just like we saw with Jesse Lingard, we never know what is going on in someone’s private life.
So, when he lost it a little bit he may have thought, ‘I have got a lot more to prove’ and that may have reinvigorated that hunger.
When I look at him now — and I watched Spurs’ win against Wolves — he looks unbelievably fit.
I have never thought he was unfit before but he looks really lean now.
He looked like he had high energy and I liked the confidence of winning the penalty and then saying, ‘I’m taking it’.
There was a time when he was playing poorly — he will be the first to admit that — but I like the comeback stories.
If Dele continues to play like he has been playing, then he will be back in the England team.
The last week of the window is also here and it is always a strange time to be a footballer.
It has been a slow window. It didn’t boom at the start with everyone moving and reacting.
But I think this week could be really busy and get back to the late-night specials when we are all sitting, watching and listening until 11pm.
It is an exciting time as a fan. You don’t want to get to the last day of the window and be bored, you want to see people move.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
