Antonio Conte may not have a plethora of talent to choose from at Tottenham but he’ll be getting a player he’s dreamed of managing for some time.
The Italian is understood to be close to joining Spurs, who sacked Nuno Espirito Santo after just four months in charge.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, Conte rebuilt the likes of Juventus, Inter Milan and Chelsea into title-winning machines but the Spurs job would probably be his biggest task yet.
However, he has a trump card to play in Kane, who’s one of the most lethal finishers in world football on his day.
Comments from Conte when he was Chelsea boss firmly suggest that he’d be building his Tottenham team around the England captain.
He said back in 2017: “For me, Kane, now is one of the best strikers in the world.
“If I had to buy one striker I would go to Kane. He is a complete striker.”
But right now, Kane isn’t playing like one of the world’s best strikers.
He’s had a tough start to the season with just one goal in nine Premier League appearances.
But Conte knows exactly how to pick up a striker experiencing a rut having made Romelu Lukaku a world beater in Inter’s title-winning campaign last-term.
On how Conte transformed his career, the former Manchester United man said: “I had Antonio Conte there as a manager who really helped me and showed me what it took to win, and we did it in the second season.
“To learn how to win is basically pushing the barrier. Every trainer has a different way of coaching, but with Antonio we really learnt how to go to the red zone. That was it.
“In the second season we were much more consistent in winning big games. That made the difference against big opponents.
“As a player, the Italian game is so different. It’s so tactical and technical. You have to make the right run or movement to get another player free. We always had a lot of possession, so we were playing in the opposite half. Most of the time you were back to goal, and everything was going through me.
“I remember having a conversation with Conte about this and he told me if I wasn’t good at that, I wouldn’t play. For me that was an eye-opener. Once I mastered that aspect then for me everything became easier.
“The game would slow down, and I could control the game more and give more assists. That was really something I wanted to do and I wanted to experience that in another country, where I think it would be beneficial for the rest of my career.”
Conte has been out of management since suddenly leaving Inter in the summer and when working as a pundit for Italian media during Euro 2020, he inadvertently gave some insight into how he could get Kane back among the goals at Spurs.
He said: “Many praise Harry Kane for his ability to go get the ball and play with the team, such as with the equaliser against Denmark.
“Of course, he’s good at that too, but it’s in the box where he’s clinical and as a coach, I would always keep him in there because he’s devastating.”
If Kane’s firing and Conte is at the helm, it gives Tottenham’s season the shot in the arm it desperately needs.
