Did anyone else feel the response Antonio Conte gave to the Harry Kane comments by Bayern Munich’s manager, Julian Naggeslmann, sounded a little bit scared and snarky? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame the Spurs manager as he should be scared of Harry Kane leaving the club soon.
During Conte’s preseason press conferences prior to Spurs’ game against Rangers, Antonio Conte lashed out at Bayern Munich’s Julian Naggelsmann as the German club’s head coach said “we’ll see what happens in the future” after he was asked about Harry Kane going to Bayern. Conte got so angry that he called Naggelsmann “disrespectful” in his passive aggressive Conte-way (it may not seem too angry, but we all know he was fuming inside).
This now feels like a recuing soap opera. Will the prolific striker Harry Kane stay at the consistently underachieving Tottenham Hotspurs for another season? If this really was a show, it could make for a very compelling watch.
Well, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself a little. Daniel Levy is still the CEO at Spurs, so I’m sure we’d have to buy some overpriced streaming service before we could ever see the “Will Harry-Won’t Harry Go” T.V. show.
Okay, on a serious note, Harry Kane is going to leave Tottenham. The only question is when. With only two years left on his current deal, I’d put money on him leaving the moment June 30th, 2024 strikes. But Kane did sign a ridiculous 6-year contract extension (when his previous deal was expiring), so I don’t know what the English striker is thinking anymore.
What I do know is that the moment Harry Kane leaves, Spurs fans can say goodbye to Antonio Conte as well. Everything that Conte and Levy have started with the current Spurs squad (signing Clement Lenglet, Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, and Ivan Perisic) has been to appease Kane. That is how critical Kane’s role is in any potential success for Tottenham next season.
If the best English goal scorer since Wayne Rooney and most valued assets at Spurs leaves the club, then why would Conte want to stay? He has already shown at Inter Milan last year that if he feels a club is not in a “win now” mentality, then he is more than happy to abandon ship. Moreover, Inter Milan was the reigning Serie A champion when he left. Does anyone really think Conte is going to win the Premier League with Tottenham this season?
Plus, if I was Harry Kane, I wouldn’t care about what Conte or Levy has created for me. Spurs have already failed Kane.
In the eight years Harry Kane has been a starter for Tottenham, the club have yet to win a single trophy. Even worse, two of the past three season Tottenham has missed out on the Champions League places. They were lucky that Manchester United and Arsenal imploded last season as that gave them a backdoor entrance into Europe’s premier club competition.
Contrarily, Bayern Munich are coming off their 10th straight Bundesliga title. Oh, and they most recently won the Champions League in 2020. Yeah, not much of a comparison between the two clubs.
Thus, I think it is justified for Conte to be scared of Harry Kane leaving Spurs. If Conte cannot will Spurs to their first English league title win since 1961 (before Kane leaves), then it will be the first time in Conte’s career he will leave a club without winning the domestic league title.
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