HARRY KANE showed again why Bayern Munich – and every other club – wished they had the money to buy him.
Kane made sure Spurs did not regret missing a host of first-half chances as his brace after the break inspired them to victory in a good workout against Rangers.
The England captain took his tally to five goals in three pre-season games with two fine finishes that allowed Antonio Conte’s side to come from behind to win.
Earlier in the day Bayern boss Julian Nagelsmann had sung Kane’s praises, expressed regret the German giants probably didn’t have enough cash to prise him from Spurs, but refused to rule out trying at some point.
Good luck with that, Julian.
Spurs stopped Kane going anywhere last season and he has little reason to agitate for a move 12 months on, given how things are shaping up for him and the club.
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There were periods when Rangers looked like what they were – a decent side that didn’t reach the Europa League final by accident and that was a week ahead of Tottenham in preparations for the new season.
But overall Spurs were the better team, especially going forward, and did enough to deserve to lift The Walter Tull Memorial Cup.
Maybe, just maybe, it won’t be their only trophy of the season.
Kane was at the heart of pretty much everything, continuing his role as a combined No 9 and No 10.
Tottenham started fast and it was after a Kane flick opened up Rangers that Dejan Kulusevski, making his first start of pre-season, forced a save from Allan McGregor inside five minutes.
But once Rangers realised that allowing Kane to drop and link play was not a great idea, they gained the upper hand and deserved the goal they scored during their period of superiority.
Rabbi Montondo’s cross was flicked on by James Tavernier and reached Antonio Colak with the aid of a deflection.
The Croatian striker made the most of the chance, scoring from close range.
Spurs will have been disappointed not to go into the break at least on level terms.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg should have equalised immediately after a three-on-one break, then McGregor did well to deny both Kulusevski and Kane either side of Cristian Romero sending a header over.
Emerson Royal’s strange reluctance to shoot from great positions wasted the final chance of the half.
Lucas Moura replaced his fellow Brazilian at right wing-back at half time, and Yves Bissouma came on for Rodrigo Bentancur to play his first minutes in a Tottenham shirt.
The opportunities kept coming and McGregor had already saved from Ryan Sessegnon when Kane grabbed a trademark goal.
Connor Goldson might have done more but better defenders than he have failed to stop the England captain shifting the ball and getting a deadly shot away.
Minutes later the most prolific double act in Premier League history pulled off their usual trick, with Son Heung-min feeding Kane to crash home his and Tottenham’s second.
Soon afterwards, Conte underlined how much stronger his squad was than Rangers’ by sending on Ivan Perisic for his first Spurs action and replacing Kulusevski with £60m signing Richarlison.
The Italian soon gave debuts to three more summer arrivals – Djed Spence, Clement Lenglet and former Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster – which meant all six new boys were on the pitch at once.
Spence immediately made a good challenge to stop Ryan Kent having a shot on goal.
Lenglet’s block then diverted a dangerous Scott Wright shot just wide and Joe Rodon did the same to a John Lundstram effort as Rangers tried to take advantage of the impact of all the changes.
Perisic went close at the other end with an acrobatic shot before Rangers sub James Sands somehow failed to make it 2-2 with a close-range header that he nodded tamely into Forster’s hands.
Ultimately, though, Kane’s contribution once more proved to be decisive.