Kane deflects talk of statue at Spurs’ stadium if he stays

Harry Kane is refusing to be drawn into the debate over whether or not he’ll stay at Tottenham and potentially receive a trophy outside of Spurs’ stadium. That’s been the subject of a lot of fan-related chatter over the past few weeks since Daniel Levy gave an interview with the Cambridge Union where he suggested Kane could be cast in bronze if he stays with the club.

Kane, however? Ehh. In video comments provided to Sky Sports, Kane tried to split the difference, saying it’s not his call to make and that he just wants to play football.

“It’s not really my decision. I’m really respectful of the club, I’ve been here since I was 11, so almost 19 years now. I’ve been here a long time and I feel like we’ve achieved a lot in my career, even if we don’t have the trophies to show for it.

“A statue is not going to make or break my career. I appreciate the words the chairman said about me, but ultimately what I can do is on the pitch, I feel like I’m giving my all in every moment, in every game and just trying to help the team as much as possible.”

Kane also was shown a video of his academy pal and current interim-interim-head coach Ryan Mason talking about him, and saying that football fans and media in England don’t give him enough praise. And in true Kane fashion, he kinda backed away from that, too.

“I’m someone who appreciates all the support I have and even sometimes when I don’t get support or get some hate from other fans, that’s part and parcel of football. It means I’m doing something well if people are talking about me. I’m not too worried about what the outside think of me. I’m there to play football and be a role model not just for kids but for men and women all around the world.”

Harry’s been giving a lot of interviews lately. You can, like with most things involving football players and transfers, look at this in a couple of ways. The cynical view is Kane’s buttering up the media ahead of what could be an eventual move to another Premier League club after refusing to sign a new contract. The optimistic view is that he’s trying to rehabilitate his image with fans before signing a new deal that will see out his career as a one-club man and Tottenham all-time legend.

I’d postulate there’s a third view — a middle-ground, pragmatic one that is most likely to be accurate. That one suggests that the furor around Kane’s future means he’s going to be the subject of media attention regardless, so the best thing to do is to get his face in front of cameras and give his typical mollifying non-answers so as not to offend anyone and position himself to be able to move either direction depending on what the best situation is for him.

Which is fine! Kane probably shouldn’t be giving answers the media can sink their teeth into, whether that’s about his contract, a commemorative statue, or anything else. It’s certainly a boring way to go through interviews, but Kane’s media-savvy enough to know that this is almost certainly the right way to go about it, unless he feels super strongly about something.

I mean, think back to Kane’s most explosive interview, held on a golf course with Gary Neville a few years ago. Even there his answers were measured, respectful, and mostly (mostly) neutral. I wouldn’t expect anything else here.

That, however, shouldn’t keep us as fans from speculating the hell out of what moment we’d like to see depicted on a Harry Kane statue outside of the Lane. Have a vote in the poll below.