Harry Kane tells Gary Neville's YouTube channel The Overlap that he wants to end career with no regrets; wantaway Tottenham striker reiterates desire to win trophies and opens up on relationship with chairman Daniel Levy
Friday 21 May 2021 12:56, UK
Harry Kane says he does not want to end his career with any regrets and has reiterated his desire to win trophies "season in, season out".
It was revealed earlier this week that Kane had told Tottenham that he wants to leave the club this summer, with Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea all understood to have registered their interest with his representatives.
The 27-year-old has previously spoken of his desire to win trophies - something Spurs have been unable to do during his time at the club - and Kane said: "I don't want to come to the end of my career and have any regrets. I want to be the best I can be.
"I never said I'd stay at Spurs for the rest of my career and I've never said I'd leave Spurs. People might say, 'he's desperate for trophies, he needs trophies', but I feel like I've still got almost another career to play.
"I've got seven, eight years, kind of what I've already had in the Premier League. So I'm not rushing anything, I'm not desperate to do anything."
Kane is currently top of the goal and assist charts in the league this season and already has two Premier League Golden Boots to his name.
Those achievements mean the England captain is already regarded as one of the best strikers in world football, but he says his "ultimate goal" is match the feats of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi - considered to be the finest players of their generation.
Kane - who was speaking earlier this month to Gary Neville's YouTube show, The Overlap - said: "I've still got so much more to give. I can produce better numbers than I'm producing at the moment.
"I'm not afraid to say, 'I want to be the best'. I want to try and get on the level Ronaldo and Messi got to. That's my ultimate goal - to be winning trophies season in, season out, scoring 50, 60, 70 goals season in, season out.
"The pressure from myself is always bigger than anything anyone else can put on me."
Spurs do not want to sell Kane, but the fact that they will end the season empty-handed - and possibly without a place in Europe - will do nothing to convince him to stay.
They have missed out on the Champions League for a second consecutive season, and Kane admitted it has been difficult to watch the progress of City and Chelsea - two of the club's interested in signing him - as they reached the final while Spurs looked on.
"I want to be playing in the biggest games. This season, I'm watching the Champions League and the English teams doing amazing, and they're the games I want to be involved in," he said.
"It's a moment in my career where I have to reflect and see where I'm at. Ultimately it's going to be down to me, how I feel and what's going to be the best for me and my career."
While Kane is keen to leave Spurs, he is only halfway through the six-year contract he signed in 2018, meaning the club are under no pressure to preserve his value and sell him this summer.
Chairman Daniel Levy also has a reputation as being a tough negotiator and is understood to have convinced Kane to stay at the club when he considered asking to leave last summer.
But Kane said of the chairman: "He's been great with me. He's always rewarded me with contracts. I signed a four, five-year deal when I was 21 but I did well and he added to that. So he's been fair with me, we've always had a good relationship.
"But you don't know what the chairman's thinking - he might want to sell me. He might be thinking, 'if I can get £100m for you then why not?' I'm not going to be worth that for the next two or three years.
"I've given the club 16 years of my life, so I hope we can have a good, honest conversation and see where we're at."
Watch Gary Neville's full interview with Harry Kane on his YouTube channel, The Overlap, from Friday.
Daniel Levy faces the most important summer of his tenure as Tottenham chairman, according to Sky Sports' Jamie Redknapp.
Spurs are yet to appoint a permanent successor to Jose Mourinho, who was sacked as the club's manager last month, and have been rocked by Harry Kane, their top scorer and talisman, reiterating to the club this week that he wants to leave.
Meanwhile, on the pitch, a 2-1 defeat at home to Aston Villa on Wednesday evening dented their Europa League qualification chances, as sections of the 10,000 returning home fans voiced their displeasure with Levy.
"This is the biggest summer of Daniel Levy's tenure as the chairman," said Redknapp. "They have got no manager, their star player wants to leave - he has to get this right. He has some massive decisions to make."
Addressing Kane's future, Redknapp said: "It's not a foregone conclusion that he's going to go. Daniel Levy is a very difficult man to negotiate with. Whoever wants to buy him will have to pay top dollar. It may be a case of a loan swap with some players, that might be a way to entice Levy to come to the table.
"He's one of the best strikers in world football and they're a valuable commodity. Levy is going to want £100m+ and that takes out a lot of teams.
"Chelsea, Man City and Man Utd are probably the three. I'd love to see my old team Liverpool go for him - whether they've got the money, I don't know.
"He's a Tottenham legend - maybe not if he goes to Chelsea because that won't go down well with the fans - but I can picture him in that Man City team, getting chance after chance after chance, winning trophies and working with one of the greatest managers ever to work in football. I think it would be a good move for him."
In the final Pitch to Post Preview Podcast of the Premier League season we look ahead to the final day and debate which sides will come out on top in the race for European football.
From the three-way battle for two top-four places and Champions League football between Chelsea, Liverpool and Leicester, to West Ham, Tottenham and Everton vying for a Europa League place, and Arsenal's chances of a Europa Conference League appearance, Sky Sports' Nick Wright and Oli Yew join Peter Smith to assess the various permutations - and make their predictions!
The panel also reflect on another Premier League title win for Pep Guardiola's Manchester City as they prepare to lift the trophy in front of their own fans on Sunday.
Listen to the Sky Sports Pitch to Post Podcast on: Spotify | Apple | Castbox