Antonio Conte wants Harry Kane to sign a new deal at Tottenham but is uncertain if his star striker will do so.
Kane appeared close to leaving the club where he has spent his entire career to date in 2021 with Manchester City attempting to sign him, but Pep Guardiola’s side were reportedly put off by Spurs’ asking price.
Despite a poor start to last season, Kane has thrived since Antonio Conte’s arrival as head coach last November and has hit 28 goals (20 goals, eight assists) in 32 Premier League games since the Italian took over.
His two goals against Nottingham Forest on Sunday helped Spurs to a 2-0 win at the City Ground and sparked speculation that Kane had signed a new deal at the club.
However, in a press conference ahead of Wednesday’s trip to West Ham, Conte said that while he would like Kane to commit further, he has no information about that.
“I have to be honest with you, I don’t know, I don’t know about this situation, I don’t know the details, honestly, honestly,” he said.
“You know we’re talking about an important player for Tottenham and everyone at the club wants [Kane] to stay with Tottenham, to sign a new contract. But if you ask me for details, for information, ‘I can’t answer you.’
With the transfer window closing on Thursday, Spurs have already signed Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic, Richarlison, Djed Spence and Fraser Forster, as well as Clement Lenglet on loan and Destiny Udogie, who has been loaned back to Udinese.
Conte said he had made his feelings clear to the club about the last-minute additions but insisted he would be happy whatever happens, saying: “I spoke to the club. I spoke to [director of football Fabio] Paratici, with [chairman] Daniel Levy, I told them my opinion.
“But as you know very well, the most important thing is that the club knows my opinion. If we do something or not, that’s fine.”
One of the new arrivals, Richarlison, earned rave reviews for his performance from the bench against Forest, with the former Everton player curling in a superb cross with the outside of his right boot for Kane’s second goal, and Conte joined in the praise.
“I’m thinking about Richy, we’re really happy,” he said. “We are talking about a player who can help us a lot, we are talking about a player who is a really good addition, especially going forward. In the past at Tottenham [we have] not had a player of this level behind Harry.” for [Son Heung-min] Now we have a really good player.
“He is in the best moment of his career, to stay at Tottenham to show his talent, he certainly has a lot of talent. He can help us a lot this season. And now every time he plays, also for 20-30-40 minutes, he plays very well. You will definitely see him in the starting eleven in the next matches.”
