Former Spurs star Teddy Sheringham has insisted ‘the writing is on the wall’ for Tottenham over Harry Kane’s future and urged his former club to let the striker depart the club amicably to join Manchester City.
The rumor mill over Kane’s north London future has been turning at fever pitch intensity this week, with reports City are set to sign the Three Lions captain in a juicy deal that would set a new high on the British transfer record.
However, the buzz from Spurs is that they are as yet unmoved in their stance of not selling their talismanic striker and skipper while, on the other hand, conflicting news also has it that City themselves have no plans to fork out that kind of moolahs for one player. There is clearly confusion over the situation where the in-demand forward is concerned with no clarity over the actual situation.
Whatever is happening behind the scenes between the clubs, the one thing that stands out strikingly clear is Kane’s overwhelming ambition for all the top European titles will no doubt take him away from White Hart Lane.
It has been a while since, prior to Euro 2020, the striker’s stunning revelation in a bombshell interview his personal plans for his career and ambition for top honors, which could see him leave his boyhood club.
Kane even talked up top suitors Man City, branding Pep Guardiola’s team a ‘striker’s dream’ to play for.
Asked by Gary Neville which player in the world he would most like to play alongside, Kane said back in May: “Oh, Kevin De Bruyne for sure.
“When I watch De Bruyne play, he’s a special, special player and some of the balls I see him put in for City are just a striker’s dream if I’m honest.
“He’s outstanding, an outstanding player with the ball, off the ball, pressing. But his delivery is as good as I’ve ever seen.”
For the present, Kane is still a Tottenham player on paper, but he is widely expected to leave the club this summer in search of silverware.
Sheringham made the same decision, leaving Tottenham for Manchester United in 1997, and the move paid off handsomely as – after five trophyless years at Spurs – he subsequently enjoyed a glittering four-season spell with the Red Devils, where he won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup and the Champions League crown.
And Sheringham says Kane knows he now has to make the same dauntless move for the good of his career.
“As soon as he put out his statement a couple of months ago, just before the Euros, it was happening, for me,” Sheringham said on Saturday’s Weekend Sports Breakfast.
“I think he’s probably had a chat with Daniel Levy. I know there’s been even more speculation over the last couple of days, but I think he’s probably had a chat and said, ‘look, you’ve been a great servant to the club, if we get the right money for you, you can go’, I would think.
“Everyone is being very quiet on it at the moment, but for Harry to come out and say he wants to play with someone like Kevin De Bruyne and the players at Manchester City, the writing has got to be on the wall, hasn’t it?”
talkSPORT host Tony Cascarino asked the former striker: “Teddy, you left Tottenham to go to Man United, and you absolutely love it when you won things.
“Kane’s got to do the same, hasn’t he? He’s too good not to win anything in his career!”
And Sheringham replied: “Yeah, he’s played at the top of his games for the last five or six years and for me he’s been the best centre-forward, the best No.9 in the world at that time.
“It hasn’t quite happened for him [winning trophies at Spurs], but it was a little bit different in my time because I felt the club weren’t being ambitious, and Tottenham have been very ambitious over the last two or three years.
“I think it’s taken a little dip recently and you might claim now with the new manager coming in that he’s not a big name, so are the club going in the right direction for Harry?
“But even with all that Harry has given his best for Tottenham and it hasn’t been good enough for the club to win something.
“He’s only got one career, I know it’s hard for the Tottenham fans to understand, but he’s got one career and he’ll look back and if he hasn’t won anything by the time he’s 33 or 44, he will be a very disappointed man.
“He has seen that and he wants to sample playing in the top games in the top competitions at the very highest level.
“When you’re a professional footballer that’s what you want to do, the money falls into place after that, you just want to play at the top level and test yourself and say: ‘Am I really the best? Let’s have a look…’
“I think Harry Kane has got to leave Tottenham to do that.”
For sure, mate, we think so, too.