Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson has become the latest pundit to weigh in on Harry Kane’s future after the striker’s admission in an interview with Jamie Redknapp on Instagram that he would consider his future at Spurs if the club is not moving in the right direction.
Merson insisted that the main worry for the Spurs striker would be the negative football that the North Londonders are likely to play under Jose Mourinho.
He insisted that the Lilywhites will create very few chances and Kane is unlikely to score the same amount of goals as he did in previous years under Mauricio Pochettino.
In his column for Sky Sports, Merson wrote, “Will Kane get six or seven chances a game playing the way Jose Mourinho does? I don’t think so. For me, that’s what he needs to weigh up.
“He loves scoring goals, he wants to play for an attacking team, but I don’t see that happening next season, if Mourinho makes it tight and starts playing the way that made him one of the best managers of all time, and I think that’s what Kane is weighing up.
“Kane will be looking at Mourinho’s history, and mark my words, next year, or whenever football begins again, Mourinho’s playing style will be different. Spurs won’t be letting in two or three goals per game, that’s for sure. Jose will be making sure he gets that right.
“The hardest thing in football is to create a team that scores goals one end and doesn’t let them in at the other. It’s impossible. But Mourinho has done that in parts over the years.
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“So far at Spurs it’s been gung-ho, with the 3-2s, your 5-2s, 4-3s, but that isn’t Mourinho deep down.
“And what that means is that Harry Kane won’t be getting five chances a game any longer, and he will have to weigh that up because he loves scoring goals.
“I don’t think Kane will want to be in a team where he is getting 10 goals a season, even if Spurs are further up the league.”
The former England midfielder also urged Kane to prioritise winning trophies over everything else.
He added: “I hope that winning trophies is on Kane’s mind. At the end of the day, these players earn enough to not work another day’s worth when their career is over. The money shouldn’t come into it too much.
“You weigh your career up on how many medals you’ve got. It’s all well and good having 17 toilets in your house, but if you haven’t won a medal, what does it mean?”
Merson claimed that the England captain will have little chance of beating Alan Shearer’s all-time Premier League goals record if he continues to stay in North London.
“He also has to think whether he wants to become the top Premier League goalscorer of all time”, added Merson.
“I don’t see that happening if he stays at Tottenham under Mourinho. He’s on 136 at the age of 26, with Alan Shearer on 260.
“He has to score at least 50 goals in the next two seasons to stand a chance of reaching that, because he isn’t reaching those numbers in his 30s – football isn’t like that anymore.
“I don’t see him doing that with Mourinho as manager. He needs to leave himself with an average of 10 to 15 goals a season in his early 30s.
“So if he wants to break the record, I think he needs to move on, too. But that would have to be to a Premier League team, so there is a lot for Harry Kane to think about.
“But overall, you want to see Harry Kane winning trophies, for his brilliance on the pitch.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The concerted media effort to get Kane out of Spurs has been going on for several years and it is no surprise to see the likes of Merson jumping on the bandwagon after the Tottenham star’s admission about his future.
Unfortunately for Merson and the other media pundits, no club is going to be able to afford Kane for the foreseeable future given the financial problems clubs are currently facing due to the coronavirus shutdown.
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