Harry Kane can still be a trophy winner with Tottenham and deserves a statue in his honour, according to club chairman Daniel Levy.
Levy addressed the Cambridge Union and told an audience of students Kane should also consider it significant that he has legend status already with the north London giants.
The 29-year-old England captain has been linked with a host of bigger clubs, including Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, and his contract is due to expire at the end of next season.
He has never won a major title with Spurs, although he has become the club s record scorer, overtaking Jimmy Greaves in February of this year.
He can absolutely win a trophy at Spurs, Levy said of Kane.
But being a legend is also important. The fact that he s the top scorer for Tottenham Hotspur – he s making history. I hope one day that there is a statue of Harry Kane outside our stadium.
If Kane decides the time has come for him to leave Spurs, then Levy will be the man who either negotiates his sale, or puts his foot down and insists he stays.
The Spurs chief has acquired a fearsome reputation as a hard man to broker deals with, being determined to secure optimum value for any player that sets out to leave.
Yet Levy played that down, saying: I don t consider myself a special negotiator. I m just acting in the best interest of my club.
When it comes to the transfer, it depends on the balance of power. If you have a player you really don t want to sell, then you have every right to say no, you own the registration.
It depends also on the character of the player, whether you feel at the end you can keep the player. Because we re operating in a team sport, it s very important we keep the team together, so every circumstance is different.
Tottenham have not won the league since 1960-61, last triumphed in the FA Cup in 1990-91, and they have only two EFL Cup victories to show since that latter success, in 1998-99 and 2007-08.
They reached the Champions League final against all expectations in 2018-19 but lost out to Liverpool.
Spurs are unquestionably the great underachievers of English football and Levy said the recent record has not been good enough and that he is sick to see title-chasing north London foes Arsenal ahead of them this season.
If you go back in history, Tottenham was a club that has lots of history because it s won things, Levy said. In recent times, it s not been where it needs to be. But we re on a journey and we need to get better success on the pitch.
But we have been in the Champions League a number of times, and we almost got there, winning the ultimate, which would have been winning the Champions League.
Cambridge-Tottenham-Cambridge: Here is the story of why our Chairman’s recent return to his former University was so significant, as he went to meet alumni from , the Sixth Form sponsored by the Club, who are currently following in his footsteps.
— Tottenham Hotspur Foundation (@SpursFoundation)
Levy added: When we first came into Tottenham, winning was making sure we stayed in the Premier League. And then, as time goes on and we got more successful, it was about getting into the Europa League, getting into the Champions League and, obviously, the ultimate is to win the trophies.
That is clearly what we re trying to do. It s easier said than done.
Am I happy we haven t won more than one trophy in the past 15 years? Absolutely not. But I also think we ve had some fantastic times and been in the Champions League a number of times.
Despite the fact I feel sick there s another club in north London that s a bit higher than us at this moment in time, if I look back over the past five years, we ve also been above them, so, it s what happens.
