Harry Kane’s England team-mates believe he could refuse to return to pre-season training with Tottenham Hotspur in an attempt to force a move to Manchester City.

Nuno Espirito Santo, during his first public appearance as Spurs head coach, has reiterated that Kane is a Tottenham player and plans talks with the club’s star man when he joins up with the rest of the squad for training.

But England players, who have spent six weeks with Kane this summer, think it is possible that he will not report for training if chairman Daniel Levy digs his heels in over the 27-year-old’s future.

The situation could potentially become reminiscent of the summer of 2013, when Gareth Bale pulled out of a pre-season tour ahead of moving to Real Madrid.

Bale spent last season on loan at Spurs with Kane, but Nuno confirmed the Welshman would not return this campaign.

Kane believes he has a gentlemen’s agreement that Spurs will listen to bids for him this summer, with City communicating their readiness to make an opening bid of £100 million (€116m).

But Levy remains determined not to sell his prized asset and told candidates for the Tottenham job this summer, including Nuno, that the club planned for Kane to stay.

“Harry is our player, period,” Nuno said. “No need to talk about anything else. Now is the moment for Harry to recover his energy, to rest. When he comes again, we will have time to speak.

“Harry’s one of the best footballers in the world, and he’s a Tottenham player.”
Asked specifically whether Levy had promised him that Kane would not be sold, Nuno replied:

“I had a lot of meetings, we spoke about a lot of things, But one thing is for sure: what we speak about between us stays between us.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]