Tottenham: Kane on big money move; midfielder set to leave; Guardiola compliments

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In the heat of the January transfer window, a prominent topic of discussion for many pundits and managers has been the influence of heavy investment from the Chinese Super League in an effort to tempt away some of the Premier League’s stars of past and present. With reports that Diego Costa has been potentially unsettled by an approach from China at Chelsea, after Oscar and John Obi-Mikel both bid Stamford Bridge goodbye to ship out to East Asia, there has been similar speculation that some of Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs stars could follow with the prospect of higher wages on the table.

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Home grown Spurs star Harry Kane, however, in an interview with Sky Sports, was insistent that no-one at Tottenham would prefer a big-money move to China over achieving success in the Premier League at White Hart Lane.

The Spurs striker celebrated becoming a father for the first-time last week in scintillating fashion, with a hat-trick in Saturday’s 4-0  win over West Brom.

With the Chinese Super League looking to attract some of the world’s biggest stars to the table, Premier League clubs other than Chelsea,Spurs and even Southampton, who lost Graziano Pelle to China in pre-season, can expect interest in their players.

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But Kane, who signed a new long-term contract back in December, insists everyone at the club wants to stay and help the club achieve success, including manager Mauricio Pochettino.

“People are going to speculate about that but you can see how good a shape the club is in,” he said.

“The future is very bright. We’ve got one of the best managers in the world, if not the best. I’m pretty sure he’d stay (if a Chinese Super League club came in for Pochettino), he’s started a project here, we’ve got the stadium coming, so the future is very bright.

“Performances like West Brom and winning games like that, the next step for us is winning trophies, so hopefully we can do that this season and push us onto the world scale.

“I’d be very surprised if any of our players went out there, especially within the next couple of seasons. What we’ve got going on here is something very great and I think it would be silly for the players here not to be part of it.”

Kane also believes it is not only Tottenham’s players who would prefer to stay put as opposed to securing a larger pay package out in Asia.

“It’s part of football now,” he said when quizzed on the money Chinese clubs have been known to spend on players.

“There’s a lot of money in the game because of how good the Premier League is and other leagues around Europe. Players are going to choose what they want to choose”.

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It isn’t just Kane who is confident in the loyalty of his Tottenham team-mates either. Manager Mauricio Pochettino himself has remained defiant in his belief that none of his players would take up the offer of a Chinese move at this time, even in the midst of Mousa Dembele’s comments that he may consider a move to East Asia later in his career.

Even in the midst of the recent Diego Costa controversy at Chelsea, Pochettino hasn’t had to endure any such problems and isn’t losing sleep over any of his stars, including weekend hat-trick hero Harry Kane, according to the Telegraph. The Argentine went on to accuse the Chinese Super League of “breaking the market”, in their attempt to lure Europe’s most exciting talent over to Asia.

Pochettino said, as quoted in the article: “It’s crazy money, it looks like they broke the market. If it’s true, it’s unbelievable but we will see what happens.”

Pochettino insisted he did not know of any Chinese offers for his own players such as Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, but is confident that he has developed a team spirit and thus a bond within his side that would be tough to break, even with any amount of money in wages, and their only focus is fighting for the Premier League title and chasing down leaders Chelsea.

“To be together and every player happy and part of our Tottenham family, I think we have a very good atmosphere around the club,” said Pochettino. “Our supporters are amazing and I think this is a very good mix between the club, the supporters, the players, the staff.

“I think it’s amazing day by day how we feel, how we live on the training ground. That is important in the end to try to win big things, to fight.”

“We are showing this season that we are more mature, we compete better, and we missed that maybe a little bit last season.

“We are showing after 21 games that we can compete and we are in a very good position. It is true that the gap with Chelsea is still big, but there are a lot of games ahead until the end of the season.”

Elsewhere, despite the talk of warding off impending Chinese interest, there may be some departures going through the revolving doors at White Hart Lane before the month is out, with Swansea City thought to be close to completing the signing of Tom Carroll, according to the Guardian.

It is understood Spurs have accepted a base offer of around £5m for the midfielder, but want the overall deal to be worth around £9m when add-ons are included. This is more than the bid Swansea have supposedly offered, but talks are ongoing between the clubs.

Carroll’s switch could be finalised by Tuesday, with the player possibly undergoing a medical as early as Monday.

The 24-year-old who came through the academy system at Tottenham is already familiar with the South Wales club after spending a season on loan at the Liberty Stadium in 2014-15, but never managed to establish himself in the first-team at White Hart Lane under Pochettino.

His only Premier League appearance this season came as a substitute, as he featured for the final few minutes against Crystal Palace back in August.

As far as Spurs’ title ambitions go, their next match will come against an out-of-sorts Manchester City at the Etihad. Spurs have already downed the Citizens this campaign, with a 2-0 win at White Hart Lane, and a 4-0 defeat for Pep Guardiola’s men at Everton on Sunday, according to the Spaniard, has effectively ended his side’s title hopes. In spite of that result, Guardiola found time to praise next week’s opponents Tottenham, declaring that despite Sunday’s humbling at Goodison Park, Pochettino’s Tottenham are the only team to have truly outplayed his Manchester City side in all departments this season, according to the London Evening Standard.

The defeat to Koeman’s Everton was the heaviest defeat Guardiola has ever suffered as a manager, however Guardiola highlighted the fact that Everton scored from all of their four shots on target whilst City mustered one more effort on goal as well as seven more shots in total than their hosts.

It is far from the first of Guardiola’s five league defeats this season where his side controlled possession and dominated the game, only to be let down by their profligacy in front of goal. The 45-year-old coach then only named Tottenham as a side that were categorically better than his team, out of all of the defeats they have suffered so far.

“At White Hart Lane Tottenham were much better,” Guardiola said as quoted in the report. “In the other games I don’t feel that feeling that the opponents were much better.

“In football, like in basketball, like in tennis, you have to put the ball inside the net. In the balance of how you create, how you concede, they punish us.”

Mauricio Pochettino’s men go into the clash with Guardiola’s side at the Etihad as the league’s most in-form side, with six straight wins in which they have scored 19 goals and conceded on just three occasions. They also hold the best defensive record across the division, losing only two games and conceding 14 goals all season, one less than leaders Chelsea. It is an enviable record, and Guardiola expects more from his own side in the midst of Tottenham’s successes.

“Of course we can do better,” he said. “It’s awful for my players. It’s an exceptional situation because for the last seven years I have always been at the top of the league. But it’s not for me, of course, that it’s tough because all the managers in the world and all the teams in the world try to do their best and fight as much as possible so in that sense there’s no doubt about that.

“It’s harder, the only way I know, like all football players and managers right now, is to work harder. Now we have one week to think about what we can do to beat Tottenham.”

Featured Image: All Rights Reserved by Andrew Watkins.