Tottenham round-up: Striker eyeing silverware; club to run-rule over Benfica youngster

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Despite the marked progress made thus far into Mauricio Pochettino’s reign at Tottenham Hotspur, a major fault that has been highlighted is that despite the club looking increasingly like title contenders, is that at this point there is still nothing tangible to show for how well they have played. They almost certainly look to be out of the title race, having conceded defeat to Leicester last season and suffered the recent blow of elimination from the Europa League at the hands of Belgian outfit Gent.

That, of course, leaves a top-four finish this season as the club’s only route back into the Champions League, but the North Londoners do have an FA Cup Quarter-Final tie with Millwall to look forward to, which remains their sole realistic opportunity for silverware this season.

That said, Tottenham’s star striker Harry Kane has spoken out regarding the trophy talk, admitting in a candid interview with FourFourTwo that his biggest fear in football is playing out a career without winning any silverware.

“My biggest fear is not achieving what I want in my career”, Kane said. “I want to win trophies”.

“I just want to win as many as I can and at the end of my career hopefully I can look back and be happy with what I’ve achieved.”

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Kane has come a long way since making his debut in Europe as a teenager six years ago. Via loan spells at Millwall and Leicester, the now England international has become a fans’ favourite and a key player at White Hart Lane, with 103 goals in 154 first-team appearances. Realistic chances at silverware though have been a shortcoming, with the club losing out in the title race last season and suffering defeat at Wembley in the 2015 League Cup Final. Incidentally, that was the last piece of silverware won by the club, when Juande Ramos’ Spurs side came from behind to topple Chelsea in the 2008 final, and their defeat two years ago was earmarked by Kane as one of the biggest disappointments of his Spurs career so far.

“Football is yet to fully break my heart but losing the Cup final against Chelsea a couple of years ago – that was a tough one to take,” he said.

Kane still, of course, has the personal honour of winning the 2015/16 Golden Boot and is likely to retain the title of leading scorer this season if he can maintain his rich vein of form. It is clear, however, that Mauricio Pochettino’s project to build Tottenham into a major force in England is essentially a long-term one, and that reaping the rewards of what is being sewn will come in the future. For him and of course for Kane, the only opportunity to win a trophy that remains this season is the FA Cup, and with Millwall the opponents in the last-eight, they are in with a real chance of returning to Wembley, where they will have to make their experience at the national stadium in Europe count.

Elsewhere, in terms of Mauricio Pochettino and club chairman Daniel Levy building for the future and for the opportunity to win more trophies, speculation is continuing to emerge regarding the club’s proposed transfer activity over the summer, and one player they are set to run the rule over is Benfica youngster, Joao Carvalho, according to the London Evening Standard.

Attacking midfielder Carvalho is a Portuguese U-21 international, and is currently enjoying a loan spell at fellow Portuguese Liga NOS outfit Vitoria Setubal, where he has recently broken into the first-team fold.

The 19-year-old is also believed to be being watched by both Arsenal and Manchester United, but Spurs have seemingly been equally proactive in recent weeks, with a club scout thought to have observed the youngster during Vitoria’s league clash with Braga last month.

An approach for another youngster of this age would be yet another marker of the continuity of Mauricio Pochettino’s philosophy of bringing through young players and developing talent, and could well spare the club a hefty transfer fee if they make an approach this summer, rather than hold out for another 12 months. He is revered as one of Portugal’s most promising youngsters, and therefore may well be one to keep an eye on in future.

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