Tottenham received a major boost recently with Harry Kane deciding to extend his contract until the summer of 2022. Former striker Teddy Sheringham says that it is a clear sign of the striker believing that the club are going in the right direction. As quoted by the Sun, he said:
“It is a good precedent — for Harry to commit his future to Tottenham when I reckon all of the top clubs in the world would have been interested in signing him.
“He could have gone anywhere for any amount of money but he is obviously loving playing for Tottenham.
“He is playing for England and has ambitions at club level as well and wants to play in the top matches and top finals. He obviously thinks Spurs are going in the right direction.”
Kane would have easily had the opportunity to move elsewhere with the likes of Manchester United interested in him. It is reported that his current contract is now worth around £100,000 per week, which is well short of the figure he would have earned at United.
At just 23 years of age, Kane is just starting to enter into the best years of his career. Spurs stand to receive the full advantage of those years.
Ex-England star Sheringham said:
“Zlatan is the finished article, where Harry would like to be in ten years’ time.
“Zlatan has won major honours all around the world, he knows his game inside out, he knows what he can and he can’t do.
“You have seen in his games he is not waning at all.“He might not go on for ever but at this moment he is still at the top of his game.”
It was not surprising that Tottenham decided to offer Kane a new deal despite the player signing a similar contract only back in February. After he finished as the league’s top scorer last season with 25 goals, there was a lot of interest in the striker. United reportedly saw Kane as the perfect replacement for either Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Wayne Rooney considering that the England international is capable of playing in several roles.
In Kane Sheringham sees similar qualities to Shearer, his former Three Lions strike partner and the all-time top scorer in the Premier League.
Sheringham added: “It is hard to get big centre- forwards who are mobile.
“Shearer certainly was in his early days. He ran the channels, held the ball up and scored goals.
“Harry has got all that in his armour as well, maybe even a little bit more. They are very similar but Harry can link the play too. He has everything to be a top striker.”
Kane has excelled at Spurs while leading the line, while he can also play as a second striker. He has shown that last season was no flash in the pan after having raced to 7 goals in nine league appearances this campaign. Kane would have very well been amongst the leading goal scorer as the season had it not been for the 12 games he has missed this campaign due to the malleolar injury.
Sheringham knows a thing or two about playing for Spurs and United, as he made his name at Tottenham before moving to Manchester United. In his first spell (from the 1992-93 season to 1995-96 campaign) with the club, he made 197 appearances for the London outfit and scored 99 goals. After a £3.5 million deal to United, he represented the Red Devils until the 2000-01 campaign. His United career did not yield the same number of goals, as he could manage only 46 goals in 145 appearances. Yet, he came back to Spurs after having won the league title, Champions League, and FA Cup.
The motivation to win trophies will be enormous for a player like Kane. Spurs have managed to win only one trophy in the last decade and it came in the form of the League Cup in the 2007-08 season. Yet, the incredible progress made by the club under Mauricio Pochettino – and off the field through a new stadium – seems to have convinced Kane that staying at White Hart Lane was the best for his career.
