Harry Kane no doubt watched the roll out of Monday’s transfer deadline day on TV with intense curiosity.
The striker, regarded as one of the best in the world, has never featured on Sky Sports News’ iconic coverage of an event that is now more telling about a football club than how many goals it scores.
The price for Kane being so loyal to Tottenham has been a failure to feature on the ticker tape of breaking news at the bottom of your screen that is now prized more highly than the Ballon d’Or.
There was a time when it would not have bothered the ambitious England captain because he was waiting patiently for Spurs to build a team capable of winning major honours around him. But as another transfer window closes with a massive ho-hum about Tottenham’s latest round of uninspiring business, the sad truth must be dawning.
Kane is fast running out of time - although there is a credible argument that he has already.
One of the finest finishers in the world who could once have walked into any team is stuck at Tottenham for the rest of his career. And the words and deeds coming from within Spurs will do nothing to ease the frustration of a world class player stuck in a rut.
Boss Antonio Conte failed to get the players he wanted for Tottenham last month and has already stated that it is going to take at least a year to even think about closing on the likes of Chelsea. Twelve months that Kane simply does not have to spare and he knows it. Conte knows it and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy knows it.
Had the formidable centre forward exhibited anywhere near the levels of courage he shows on the field, he would be on the cusp of a first Premier League title with Manchester City. That £160 million British-record transfer would have blown the fuses at Sky and with a bit of luck Jim White would have spontaneously combusted live on telly in a ball of flaming yellow tie.
But instead of handing in a transfer request, nice-guy Harry tap-danced around to stay in the supporters’ good books and to save those loyalty bonuses. It was all a bit Spursy.
City weren’t prepared to pay Tottenham’s £160 million valuation last summer and come the next transfer window he will be worth even less and will be 29. And with Sky Sports’ confirmation of City striking a summer deal for forward Julian Alavarez, Kane must realise that this ship has sailed.
The arrival of feisty Conte at Spurs in November was supposed to shake things up, to declare them back in the game with a big name boss who would nail the big signings and lead the club out of the doldrums. In reality, 11th hour deals for £15.8 million Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski on loan from Juventus have been greeted with a fat ‘so what?’
Conte’s leading targets Adama Traore and Luis Duiz chose bigger and better things in January - Barcelona and Liverpool respectively.
Maybe they will prove people wrong, but as Kane drifts back into training this week after the latest international break, it would be worth far more than £160m to know what is going through his mind.
Even with the City option now looking dead, there would be no shortage of takers for Kane. Yet the price is dropping by the day. To leave in the summer and move on upwards, Kane needs to start scoring more goals. More importantly, he requires normally ruthless businessman Levy to take a hit on the price.
Good luck with that.
If Kane is kept prisoner at Tottenham and the club does not wake up, he may finish his career as the only England captain this century to not win a major trophy. Genuinely sad when at one point the best team in England was desperate to sign him.
It's not quite the piece of history Harry had in mind when he started out at Spurs and the sky was the limit.
