Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has suggested that Harry Kane should run down his contract at Tottenham before leaving on a free transfer and believes the club have ‘failed’ in recent seasons. The Spurs forward’s current deal expires in the summer of 2024 and he has been linked with Manchester United and Bayern Munich, although chairman Daniel Levy is likely to demand a fee of over £100m.
Wenger feels Kane is worth the hefty price tag despite his contract situation, but has predicted he may wait until next year to re-assess his options. Speaking on beIN SPORTS on Wednesday night, the Arsenal legend said: ‘If you are his agent, Harry Kane has one year to go, in one year he is completely free, what do you tell him? Give your club a last chance and then you go. It’s not about money, but, in the end, it’s always about money. He will not go for less than £80million. You don’t find strikers of that quality.’
Kane recently hinted he may stay in north London and spoke of wanting to change the culture at Tottenham over the summer. Wenger believes there was a hidden message behind his words and that the England skipper is frustrated that the rest of the squad have not been able to match his level in recent seasons. He continued: ‘Translated it means that not everybody gives the maximum to perform during training to be good enough in the game. Is it down the character of the players or is it down to the whole atmosphere inside the training ground or the coaches? I don’t know. You need to live every day with players to know what’s really going on, and what works and what doesn’t work. You have to create a culture inside the club that allows the players to perform. You need clear rules for everybody to see what you tolerate and what you don’t tolerate. When you talk about values, most of the time it is [about] what is not tolerated. Players like Harry Kane have high standards. He is now frustrated because for years the team looked on the way up. Since two or three years they look to have failed again.’