FROM TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM - The second peak of Harry Kane's esteemed career coincided with Tottenham turning into a regressive and defensive team.
From mid-2018 to the start of 2020, the striker became dogged by injuries, stripping him of a yard of pace and essentially pencilling him in for around ten games on the sidelines during any given season.
By the time he effectively had back-to-back pre-seasons to reset his body during the pandemic, Spurs had fully committed to Jose Mourinho. Kane took on not only more of the scoring load alongside Son Heung-min, but also shouldered the creative burden.
Through the Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte eras, Kane had to do everything in order to maintain Tottenham's attacking potency.
Enter Ange Postecoglou, a head coach drafted in to restore Spurs' long-forgotten attacking principles.
Kane scored Spurs' first four in a 5-1 pre-season thrashing of Shakhtar Donetsk on Sunday as they flexed their new identity back on home soil. For the first time since the days of Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham are looking to play on the front foot, to dominate the ball, to suffocate teams with possession and chances.
When Kane was substituted towards the end of the match, he was met with a standing ovation, his iconic chant sung loudly from all four corners of the ground. Just as it had after each of his four goals, just as it had before a ball had even been kicked this afternoon.
Today's script may as well have been written by our new AI and ChatGPT overlords - once Kane was on the bench, a dark cloud emerged over the stadium. The heavens opened for five minutes before the sun began to reappear again.
Heading into Sunday's encounter, Spurs were continuing to mull over a new bid from Bayern Munich worth £86m. It could well be their last in a saga which is nearing an end.
If Tottenham choose to cash in on Kane, they stop any risk of him walking away for free next summer when his contract expires. It's become clear that this is a risk they must take.
Kane became the club's all-time leading scorer back in February when he grabbed the only goal in a remarkable 1-0 victory at home to eventual treble-winners Manchester City. At full-time, he was celebrated and heralded for his remarkable achievements.
That's when it first sunk in - Tottenham Hotspur are Harry Kane, and Harry Kane is Tottenham Hotspur.
READ MORE ON HARRY KANE'S PROPOSED TRANSFER TO BAYERN MUNICH
If under-fire chairman Daniel Levy agrees to sell the club's greatest ever player, he would tank his already negative approval rating to ungodly levels. If Kane walks for free, Spurs miss out on a hefty fee for the balance sheet, but at least he can say he kept the striker for all six years of his contract, tried his darnedest to extend that deal.
It's an incredibly rare feat for an academy graduate to become the face and soul of their boyhood club, especially in the super-club age. Tottenham should cherish this as long as they possibly can, kick the replacement striker can down the road for another year at least. If building a billion-pound stadium was meant to bridge the gap to the elite in the transfer market, it should also be able to absolve such a financial loss.
There is, also, the Postecoglou factor. Kane scored 30 Premier League goals last season, his joint-best total despite sorry Spurs limping to an eighth place finish. In theory, he would be able to rival Erling Haaland for the Golden Boot in a team which creates bucketloads of chances rather than being drip-fed them.
"He's a fantastic striker, one of the world's best. I think the way the team plays will help him as well. He loves scoring goals and you saw today we created a load of chances and he was the beneficiary of that," Postecoglou said on Sunday.
Tottenham still believe they could yet convince Kane to sign a new contract. This is more of a last chance than a last dance. The cruel world of modern football needs both to go through with it.
LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN's TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST
On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Toby Cudworth is joined by Graeme Bailey to discuss the next steps in Bayern Munich's Harry Kane hunt, Brighton rejecting another Chelsea bid for Moises Caicedo, who has had the most impressive transfer window so far & more!
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This article was originally published on 90min as Football becomes pointless if Tottenham cave in and sell Harry Kane.
