Ledley King gives his view on Harry Kane’s long-term future at Spurs

As Tottenham get ready to move into a new stadium, and with the ink still drying on a bumper new six-year contract, Spurs legend Ledley King feels that ‘level-headed’ striker Harry Kane sees his long-term future at the club – even if the likes of Real Madrid were to come knocking.

King, who made over 250 appearances in a Tottenham shirt before seeing his career cut cruelly short due to a knee injury believes that the England captain and man-of-the-moment has his mind set on winning trophies at the club.

“I think Harry will stay,” King said in an interview with BlackType.bet. “Harry knows he’s loved and valued at Spurs and similar to myself in a way, he is someone that has come through the youth set-up and wants to take the club to the next level and he wants to win things.

“I sense he wants to be the focal point of Tottenham being Premier League champions and Champions League champions. Like Harry, the manager (Mauricio Pochettino) has signed a new contract and has shown he wants to be a part of it – it shows that the club means business moving forward and hopefully can go on and win things in the foreseeable future.

“Harry is a level-headed lad and I think the most important thing for him is playing football at the highest level. Tottenham have been a team competing for the Premier League for the last few years and in the Champions League last season. I always said to myself that it would mean more to win one or two trophies with Spurs, rather than five or six elsewhere and I sense that with Harry as well. He can get everything he needs playing at Tottenham – he is playing at the very highest level and he is captaining his country, what more does he need?”

Since taking over as England captain, Kane has netted seven goals in 11 games and King says he is in awe of the 24-year-old’s all-round ability.

“He seems to be going from strength to strength which is even more impressive and becoming England captain hasn’t fazed him. He’s taken everything in his stride and seems to enjoy the pressure moments and I think this is what you look for in a footballer, especially an England captain. He lives a clean life and is dedicated to his craft and I think that is why everyone is behind him.”

Despite the proposed wholesale changes by Belgium manager Roberto Martinez, Kane could come up against some familiar faces during Thursday’s final Group G game. As well as clubmates Toby Alderweireld, Mousa Dembele and Jan Vertonghen, other Premier League stars such as Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku could also feature and King says that can sometimes work against you, rather than in your favour.

“It can be difficult when you play against a player you know so well and are close to. I’ve played against a few players that I grew up with in the Premier League – Peter Crouch was one of them, Bobby Zamora – these were players that were directly up against me.

“I always hated it because they would be friendly with me and I didn’t really want to talk. I wanted to keep my concentration. They would be asking me: “how’s the family?” or “how is the knee?”, so it can get a little bit familiar, but this is a fun game for everyone involved – especially with the Tottenham connection. I think that they will be both looking to get one up on each other and get bragging rights heading back into pre-season next season.”