Steve McManaman has urged Harry Kane to stay at Tottenham Hotspur if he is happy at the club and wishes to go down as a club legend.
There has been plenty of speculation about Kane’s future over the last couple of months, with the England captain reported to be on the radars of Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.
Some pundits have urged the striker to quit Tottenham this summer in order to compete for the biggest trophies in the game.
However, McManaman, who left his hometown club, Liverpool to join Real Madrid in 1999, insisted that there are a lot of other factors that could dictate a player’s desire to stay at a club besides on-pitch success.
He told HorseRacing.net (as relayed by Football.London): “It’s easy to say: ‘You need to leave Spurs because you need to be successful and win trophies’.
“Tottenham want to be successful, but it’s hard in the Premier League when you’ve got Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City knocking around next to you.
“Of course that’s difficult. But the main thing for Harry Kane, for me, is for him to be happy.
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“If he’s happy and scoring goals and being a legend and wants to stay at Tottenham, so be it. It doesn’t matter what team he goes to play for, he’ll always be wealthy enough and well-rewarded because he’s a super player.
“He’s got a young family, his wife and children might be happy where he is, they might have a family immediately close to them where they’re all happy, the children might be in happy schools. That’s the important thing.
“Of course, in an ideal world, he’ll want to be successful, but if he moves to Manchester, if he moves to Madrid and you’re unhappy, and your wife’s unhappy, your children are unhappy, it makes a mockery of your decision.
“As long as he’s happy, he’s going to be a superstar wherever he plays.”
McManaman also dismissed the idea that Kane has to win major trophies to be considered a great player, insisting that the 27-year-old is already one of the best in the world.
The Liverpool legend said: “If he wants to win trophies, the team who wins the most trophies at the moment is Manchester City, so that would be an easy decision.
“People get carried away with this; ‘He needs to win trophies to be a great player.
“He doesn’t, he’s a great player anyway and he’s going to be one of the best.
“Look at Alan Shearer. People talk about the lack of trophies he didn’t win, but no-one can tell me Alan Shearer isn’t an absolute superstar, not an absolute hero at Newcastle. Harry Kane will be the same if he stays at Tottenham.”
However, the former Reds star did insist that Kane is the one player clubs around Europe should be targetting this summer above Erling Haaland if they want a guaranteed world-class performer.
He added: “If he wants to move and he feels as if he needs to win trophies, that’s his decision. He’s an incredible centre-forward and I think if you’re a club and you’re going to buy one at the moment, a Premier League super-striker, you go and buy Harry Kane in a heartbeat.
“You know that if he goes and plays for somebody else, he’ll still go and score 30 goals next year.
“I think Erling Haaland is certainly one for the future, because he’s only a young boy. He hasn’t played in the Premier League before, he’s still adjusting, he’s still getting better and he’s still improving. Harry Kane is the finished article.”
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If Kane does decide that he wants to leave Tottenham to win trophies, I do not think many Spurs fans will begrudge him the opportunity to join a club like Real Madrid.
However, one cannot deny that most opposition fans and pundits, who are urging Kane to get out of Spurs, have an agenda for doing so.
I have seen Arsenal and Chelsea fans suggest that Kane has to leave Spurs if he wishes to go down as a Premier League legend. It is clear that they do not really care about the England captain’s legacy and just cannot stand that the best striker in world football plays for Tottenham.
Similarly, the likes of Roy Keane and Rio Ferdinand are only banging on the drum for Kane to leave because they believe Manchester United have a chance of signing him.
It is refreshing to hear McManaman asking Kane to follow his heart and admitting that he will be remembered as a great player irrespective of what he chooses to do.
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