In an explosive interview, Harry Kane has revealed all about his desire to leave Tottenham and finally fulfill his personal ambition of winning trophies.
Tottenham’s star striker spoke openly and freely to Gary Neville as he discussed his relationship with chairman Daniel Levy and his future after rocking his club by handing in a transfer request this week.
Kane, who has had numerous opportunities to leave Tottenham before, clearly has a deep love for the club he grew up supporting but at 27 is desperate to experience the success his talent deserves.
The frontrunners to sign the £100million-rated striker this summer are Manchester United and City and Kane obviously feels they offer him a better chance of winning trophies after his barren 11-year spell with Spurs.
Normally an assured and calm character, Kane’s manner was unusually erratic when faced with questions about his lack of success, Levy and if he aspires to reach the same level as Lionel Messi.
Sportsmail has spoken to body language expert JUDI JAMES to get her opinion on Kane’s performance in his interview with Neville.
We’re getting two contrasting stories from Harry Kane’s body language here.
First there’s his facial expression and shoulder rituals, which imply nonchalance and a lack of any real problems between him and his future and the relationship with Levy, and then there is Harry’s gesticulation from the waist down which suggests he might well be smarting or feeling under-valued on a very basic level.
Kane keeps his vocal tone high and light as he speaks about his club’s lack of success. His brows are raised, his walk is a bit of a swagger and as he speaks he performs a one-shoulder shrugging gesture to imply it’s not a big deal.
Harry Kane hinted that his macho pride may have been hurt when Gary Neville asked him about his lack of success
The way Kane fiddled around his pockets suggested that he feels angry or impatient
When he starts to refer to his personal success or lack of it at Spurs though, Kane’s body language signals start to become incongruent and even conflicting. He pauses to talk and he splays his legs wide to signal a promotion of alpha confidence.
By resting his golf club right against the middle of his crotch he creates a rather odd-looking ritual that hints his macho pride might have been threatened and in need of a re-boot.
He shoves his hands into his pockets in a gesture that looks intended to signal power but his tight trousers allow us a clear view of the fiddling and squeezing that is going on in his pockets, suggesting suppressed emotions that could vary between anxiety and impatience or even anger.
The Tottenham striker looked determined in his expression when he said ‘I want to win’
Kane looks down in a cut-off when he speaks about his club’s performance but he looks up to reveal a more determined eye expression when he says ‘I want to win’. There is another hint of hidden of suppressed emotions when he is asked what is important to him.
He crosses his legs in a barrier gesture, performs two tongue-pokes to suggest displeasure or rejection and he digs his club into the ground in an act of distraction as though playing for time before he offers his opinion.
His body language again becomes more guarded when he says he still has ‘Got another career to play’. His hand comes up to hide the bottom half of his face as though he wants to mask or down-play the strength of his personal ambitions here.
Kane’s eye dart was a give-away gesture that reaching Lionel Messi’s level is an important objective for him
Kane’s reactions when asked questions about Daniel Levy suggests he doesn’t know what to expect when they next have a conversation and might be preparing for a fight
When he speaks about getting to the level of Messi though, the give-away gesture is his eye-dart from right to left, which suggests how important this objective is to him. He might sound casual about his ambitions, saying he’s ‘not desperate’ and ‘not rushing’ but his non-verbal signals suggest strength of feeling here.
When Kane speaks about having a conversation with the chairman he brings one hand up again as a barrier, this time rubbing his nose slowly, and he throws his other hand out in an expansive gesture, with these rituals suggesting he doesn’t know what to expect when he does.
He rubs his nose again when asked how he’s found Levy, suggesting mixed and rather guarded thoughts and emotions. His legs cross in a self-protective barrier gesture and he waves his golf club in the air, hinting he might possibly be preparing to have a fight on his hands.
‘I never said I’d stay at Spurs, the crossroads moment is coming… Daniel Levy might want to sell me for £100m’: Harry Kane opens up on his desire to quit Tottenham in candid chat with old coach Gary Neville
Harry Kane has opened up on his desire to quit Tottenham this summer in a candid chat with Gary Neville, insisting that the club may even be keen to cash in and sell him if they can get £100million.
The England talisman has rocked the north London club by telling them he wants to leave, and the latest reports have claimed that both Manchester City and Manchester United are willing to offer him £300,000-a-week wages to join.
While Spurs fans are desperate for their star man to stay, Kane has admitted a ‘crossroads moment’ is coming this summer – and even thinks there is a chance Daniel Levy and Co will be happy to let him leave.
Harry Kane has opened up on his desire to leave Tottenham in the summer transfer window
Kane spoke to his former England coach Gary Neville (right) for a new SkyBet YouTube show
Kane showed his support to the Tottenham fans for perhaps the final time on Wednesday night
‘I don’t know, I mean he might want to sell me,’ Kane said in a conversation with his former England coach Neville for SkyBet’s The Overlap. ‘He might be thinking: “If I could get £100m for you, then why not?” Do you know what I mean? I’m not going to be worth that for the next two or three years.’
When questioned about how he thinks the difficult conversation with Levy will go this summer, Kane was quick to praise the chairman and insists they have always enjoyed a positive relationship.
‘I hope we have a good enough relationship,’ he adds, in the interview filmed last week. ‘I’ve given the club… well, I’ve been there 16 years of my life. So, I hope that we can have a good, honest conversation and see where we are at in that aspect.’
At 27, Kane has never shied away from his desire to reach the very top of the game, and it is clear that he still holds very high ambitions.
Kane is the joint-top goalscorer in the Premier League this season, but wants to win trophies
Kane insists that Tottenham might even want to sell him this summer if they can get £100m
This season, he has gone toe-to-toe with Mohamed Salah for the Golden Boot, with the pair level on 22 Premier League goals apiece with one match to play.
For Kane, though, that number is not high enough and he sees himself scoring plenty more – wherever he ends up playing next season and beyond.
‘I don’t want to have come to the end of my career and have any regrets,’ he said. ‘So, I want to be the best that I can be. I’ve said before, I’d never say that I’d stay at Spurs for the rest of my career. I’d never say that I would leave Spurs.
‘I still feel like I’ve still got almost another career to play. I’ve got another seven or eight years. I’m not rushing anything. I’m not desperate to do anything. I feel like for sure I’ve got so much more to give. I feel like I can be even better than what I’ve been. I can produce better numbers than what I’m producing at the moment.
‘I’m not afraid to say that I want to be the best. I’m not afraid to say I want to try get on the level that Ronaldo and Messi got to. You know, that’s my ultimate goal. That’s my aim, to be winning trophies season in, season out. Scoring 50, 60, 70 goals season in, season out. That’s the standard I want to set myself.’
Daniel Levy is renowned for being a tough negotiator and he is set for a big summer at Spurs
Tottenham fans have been furious at their owners and clashed with staff inside the stadium
This season, Spurs dropped out of the race for the top four and are now scrambling for a European spot heading into the final day of the season.
As it stands they sit seventh, with a trip to fifth-placed Leicester on the final day of the season this weekend.
Should they finish in their current position, they will be rewarded with a spot in UEFA’s new Conference League competition.
Clearly, though, Kane is aiming to be playing regularly in the latter stages of the Champions League and it is unlikely Europe’s third-tier competition will suffice.
The Overlap is a new YouTube channel from Gary Neville in partnership with Sky Bet