Harry Kane's experiencing an excellent time in his career. After a high-level Euros, the English striker has returned to delight Tottenham fans in a complicated season for the club but positive for Harry.
The man of change has only one name: Antonio Conte. Yes, but what really happened last summer?
In June 2021, Harry Kane along with his agent and brother Charlie was very clear: he wanted to leave Tottenham for the opportunity to return to playing the Champions League, a positive 'obsession' in Kane's head who wants to compete at the highest level also on the international scene.
The answer from Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was very clear from the first meeting: there is no possibility of selling Harry Kane.
Pep Guardiola had named Kane as the top of the list for his Manchester City. Even today, Man City see Harry together with Erling Haaland and Robert Lewandowski in the top 3 of central strikers at European level.
The real, last Man City offer for Harry Kane was delivered in the afternoon of August 12, 2021: €150 million guaranteed plus potential add-ons to be discussed to reach a total of €160 million.
Tottenham's response has been the same for three full months: no chance, Kane is not for sale.
An important man in this behind-the-scenes story was Italian football director Fabio Paratici, who joined Tottenham in the first week of July and immediately found himself dealing with Harry Kane's tense situation.
Not for everyone, really. But Paratici was used to difficult situations after so many years at Juventus with nine consecutive Serie A titles: he has been dealing with the issues of Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba and many others.
This is why Paratici together with Daniel Levy rebuilt the relationship with Harry Kane: the communication from the Spurs board was that they wanted to start a new ambitious project, considering Kane an untouchable pawn.
"Harry is the best central striker in the world, for us he is very important", Paratici's first interview as the club's director of football was a message of love to Kane.
That behind-the-scenes work helps rebuild the relationship with Harry, who accepted to stay at Tottenham in the final 10 days of August.
Also because there were no real alternatives: Daniel Levy had decided for months not to sell Kane to Manchester City, and who's in football circles knows that it is extremely complicated to change the Spurs chairman's mind.
But here comes Antonio Conte, a manager who has always had an excellent relationship with the forwards. "Antonio reminds me of Sir Alex Ferguson" said a certain Carlos Tevez after having worked under Conte at Juventus.
Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez were incredibly effective at Inter with Antonio, the same happened to Diego Costa in the Premier League won by Chelsea.
Indeed, Conte managed to get excellent results from Graziano Pellé during his experience with the Italian national team. In short, Conte is like a magic potion for the attackers.
The first thing Antonio did as soon as he arrived at Tottenham training ground was to go and shake Harry Kane's hand during his first training session as a new Spurs manager.
A long dialogue in which Conte explained to Kane his vision, his ideas, the importance of the attackers in his game and the intention to build a 3-4-2-1 with Harry as a reference.
Those close to Tottenham say that from that day an excellent relationship was born between Kane and the Italian manager: Harry is understood to be a big fan of Antonio Conte's methods on and off the pitch.
His training sessions are at the highest level for a collective improvement that Kane adores, his winning mentality in every single aspect of club management is really appreciated by the English striker.
Conte is obsessed with winning: he is never really happy if he doesn't have a trophy in his hands, this concept is replicated every day in his management of him at Tottenham.
His furious reactions after the defeats come precisely from the intention to communicate to the players, the board, the chairman and the fans that Conte has no intention of passively accepting difficult situations: win or die, this is Antonio's mentality.
A winning mentality that Harry Kane approves and shares. This is why the continuity of the Italian manager is a crucial aspect for the Spurs also to hope to be able to keep Kane long-term at the club.
Tottenham's intention is to offer Harry a new contract - which will likely boost Harry Kane net worth estimates - not in March or April but in the summer when he will make his choice about the future.
Being able to play the Champions League will be a key factor, alongside the club's plan of major investments to build a winning team ahead of the 2022/2023 season.
Kane wants to win, so it will be up to Tottenham to convince him. But it is still too early for final decisions.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
FIRST PUBLISHED: 11th March 2022
