Paul Merson has claimed that Harry Kane may have come to the realisation after Tottenham’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Saturday that he is not going to fulfil his ambitions in North London.
Kane was feeding off scraps for the entire 90 minutes as Pep Guardiola’s men dominated proceedings.
The striker did hit the post with a first-half free-kick but was largely a peripheral figure in the match, arguably contributing more while defending set-pieces than he did in attack.
Merson claimed that Kane has no chance of beating Alan Shearer’s all-time Premier League goal record at Spurs if they continue playing the same way.
The former Arsenal midfielder told Sky Sports: “I thought after the game on Saturday: ‘I wonder how Harry Kane feels when he gets home?’
“He’s going to be 28 in the summer – his next three years will be his best years.
“He’s got a big thing to weigh up now. I don’t think he gets near Alan Shearer’s record (260 Premier League goals to Kane’s 156) at Tottenham playing this way. Far from it.
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“I said at the start of the season he’ll have a big decision. When you have a game like that against City, and he knows his football because he’s an intelligent player, he will know Spurs are a million miles off Man City. A million miles.
“I think Kane is the best striker in the world. He’s the only one who can make chances, put the ball through the eye of a needle, and also finish. There aren’t many centre forwards in the world who can do that.
“But it’s difficult. You have to think of your family; he has a wife and two kids, he might be happy as Larry where he is. It’s all well and good us saying he should leave, but he may be loving his football at Spurs. We don’t know.”
Merson stated that Kane would be the ideal signing to catapult Manchester United to the Premier League title and urged the Red Devils to go for the Tottenham star over Erling Halland.
The pundit also claimed that Manchester City could be eyeing a move for the England captain should they fail to win the Champions League this season.
The 52-year-old added: “If I’m Man Utd, I’m doing all I can to buy Kane. I know Erling Haaland is on a lot of radars, but there should be only one person on Man Utd’s radar: Harry Kane.
“If they want to close the gap to Man City, they need someone to come to that club and score goals the minute he walks into that club, like Harry Kane can.
“Because Kane has done it, year in, year out, in this relentless league. Who is to know Haaland is going to hit the ground running in this league? You don’t have time in this league. Timo Werner was scoring goals left, right and centre, but came here and has struggled.
“Sometimes I watch Kane and think: ‘Am I the only one who sees this?’ I’d be paying everything to sign him. He’s got the entire package.
“Man Utd need to win the league now, not in five or six years’ time. Don’t get me wrong, Haaland is an unbelievable prospect. But for me it’s a no brainer – I’d want to win the league now!
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Man City went for him, but that depends on how they do in the Champions League. The only thing that’s going to stop them winning the competition is missed chances. If it is down to missed chances, I know who I want in my team next year: Harry Kane.
“But I’ll say it again: his family may be happy where they are. A lot of things at Tottenham tick his boxes, but he won’t want too many days like he had on Saturday.”
Spurs Web Opinion
If we finish outside the top four this season and fail to win a trophy, Kane might well decide that it is time to move on. However, I still do not see any club being in a position to pay £150m-£200m for the striker given his age and the current financial climate. Besides, even if Kane does push to leave in order to win trophies, I do not think he will want to risk moving to Man Utd, who have not won the league for nearly eight years.
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