When you entered the museum, the first thing you saw was Harry Kane. Not literally, of course, but on the wall – his image, his jerseys, his story. It was an exhibition at the Museum of London last year and Kane was the entrance point for a thousand years and more of life in England’s capital.
The story sprawled from London’s Roman roads to modern grime music and here was the young, boy Kane wearing his Ridgeway Rovers kit and here was Kane the England captain. He is a London child and his is a London life; a reasonable question, however, is: for how much longer?
It seems inconceivable Kane could move to another London club. Even though as a 10-year-old he was at Arsenal, it feels impossible in the hysterical world football inhabits today that he could go back to red. Chelsea? Well, anything could happen with them, but again, think of the hysteria.
Realistically, Kane would not go to Fulham, Crystal Palace, Brentford or West Ham, and although he has sponsored Leyton Orient’s shirts for the past three seasons, it’s unlikely his next move will be to League One – Kane did tweet his congratulations to the club on their promotion from League Two on Tuesday. He has 3.8 million followers.
Paris Saint-Germain have been linked, which has a certain appeal; but if Kane stays in England, that appears to leave the Mark E Smith option – Hit The North.
The reason for such geographic speculation is that after 19 years, boy and man, Kane’s time at Tottenham smells like it has reached a natural, if not contractual, end.
He remains the team’s leader, its icon and he is the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, as well as England’s. But, still, it feels over, or approaching over, and while in years to come he will surely reflect with pride on those two personal records, he will also recall they were achieved in an erratic, disorderly time for Tottenham.
We should say the season has not been a disaster. With seven games to go, Spurs are fifth in the Premier League and will go level on points with Newcastle United should they win at St James’ Park on Sunday. The possibility of playing Champions League football is in the air and if Erik ten Hag can call it a “trophy” for Manchester United, maybe Spurs’ hierarchy will say the same.
But that’s a best-case scenario and Tottenham have not been fulfilling those of late. What is equally foreseeable is that Spurs will lose at Newcastle and then face Man United and Liverpool in four days at the end of next week. They still have to travel to resurgent Aston Villa.
So it might be advisable to keep best-case scenarios quiet, particularly when you have just played four of the relegation-threatened clubs – Nottingham Forest, Southampton, Everton and Bournemouth – and won one of them. Best-case before those matches was 12 points; Tottenham took five.
In the midst of this run, Antonio Conte departed as manager, Fabio Paratici – the club’s ‘managing director of football’ – was suspended from football and finally resigned on Friday, and they beat Brighton at home despite being beaten up by Brighton at home.
Brighton offer the contrast to how Tottenham have been run, accumulating assets and points and a place in a FA Cup semi-final.
Spurs, remember, exited the competition at Sheffield United. Conte had left Kane on the bench at Bramall Lane, apparently to preserve him for Wolves away three days later (lost) and AC Milan four days on (lost on aggregate). Meanwhile, Manchester City won their FA Cup away tie at a Championship club, Bristol City, defeated Newcastle in the league and put seven past Leipzig in the Champions League.
It may seem the harshest of comparisons – City are a distorting economic state unto themselves. Yet Kane must have noticed that although Erling Haaland was similarly rested at Ashton Gate, his colleagues won regardless; and then that Haaland scored five in the Leipzig rout.
Because almost two years ago, Kane could have been Haaland. City bid a reported £127 million for Kane in 2021 but Spurs kept saying no. He had a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with chairman Daniel Levy that he could depart, but as Levy no doubt pointed out, Kane also had three years left on his contract. Now it’s down to one.
Then Kane was 27, soon he will be 30. City won the league without him and may do so again – City could in fact win a treble as Tottenham, in a worst-case scenario, trundle in trophyless once again. They could finish eighth; their form post-World Cup has them ninth.
One paradox of a confusing season is that Spurs are also the last team to beat City. It was on the February day Kane scored the goal which took him past Jimmy Greaves. It is a serious landmark and Levy said this week he could see a day when there is another – a Kane statue outside the stadium. Some could argue Kane has done enough already to merit one.
It can be said glory does not require silverware and when Kane gets to Newcastle he will see Alan Shearer in bronze outside St James’. Shearer was once in Kane’s stay-or-go situation at a club seemingly destined to fall short. Shearer stayed and has eternal reverence, but many would have understood had he left when Bobby Robson was ready to sell.
Are Tottenham ready to sell? It sounds as if a portion of the fan base is, but they are not the decision-makers. Spurs will not get £127 million for Kane this summer, but they could get £57 million. Man United would pay that, so, probably, would Liverpool. Villa? Perhaps.
And then there’s Newcastle, who will invest again if they reach the Champions League.
And St James’ Park is almost a spiritual home for Tottenham. The Duke of Northumberland owned the London land on which White Hart Lane was built – hence the nearest station is Northumberland Park – and Harry Hotspur, real and Shakespearean, was also a Northumberland man.
Spurs will surely counter with a new contract and a different vision, but 2023′s Harry Hotspur will have to consider what has occurred since the 2019 Champions League final against Liverpool and where Tottenham will be this time next year. Imagine another slump season?
Kane will be free to go then, but he will be a year older. As his Galway-born father Patrick could tell him, migration is part of economic and professional life. The Kanes took the road to London; now the London boy may take one of those Roman roads out.
