Fabio Paratici wants to keep Harry Kane at Tottenham

In an interview with Sky Sports over the weekend, new Tottenham Hotspur Managing Director of Football Fabio Paratici has said that he wants to keep Harry Kane at the club next season and is looking forward to seeing him play for Spurs. This comes after Manchester City had a £100m bid, which reportedly included 1-2 players in part exchange and escalators, rejected by Spurs earlier in the window.

“Keeping him is not just my goal, it’s our goal as a club. I can’t wait to watch him play live, I’ve been really lucky in the past years because I’ve watched a lot of top players and strikers, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez, Alvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuain, and many more which now I forgot about.

“Right now, he’s one of the best strikers in the world. He’s a complete player, really special. His physique is that of a real number nine, a true poacher, but he also has an incredibly refined technique. He is able to shoot with both feet and also provides many assists - very few people notice this, because he scores so many goals. He’s a team player, but he’s a finisher at the same time, so really I believe he is among the top three in the world.

“I haven’t heard from him yet because I don’t want to bother the players who are busy at the Euros, it doesn’t seem fair to me. They’re focused on their own goals with their national teams.”

A lot of people will view these quotes as Tottenham putting down a hard line over Kane’s desire to leave Spurs this summer, but I’m not sure it changes anything. In fact, this is exactly what you’d expect a club to say about any very good player whom they want to keep around, and they’re downright bog standard quotes during any given transfer window.

Obviously Tottenham would rather keep Harry Kane around for as long as they can — he’s one of the best strikers in the world! But I don’t think this changes the calculus or moves the needle — whatever metaphor you want to use — much. Kane almost certainly still wants to go, Tottenham almost certainly has a price for him that they would consider, and Manchester City definitely hasn’t made that offer yet. Until City come in with a seriously stupid money bid that tests Tottenham’s resolve, Harry Kane will remain a Spurs player.