England captain Harry Kane has told Tottenham he wants to leave the club this summer; Gareth Southgate says Kane 'has one goal this summer while he's with us and that's to win a European Championship'
Tuesday 25 May 2021 20:04, UK
England manager Gareth Southgate insists Harry Kane will not be affected by uncertainty over his Tottenham future ahead of Euro 2020 and does not expect transfers involving squad members to take place during the tournament.
Kane, who won the Golden Boot with England at the 2018 World Cup, has told Spurs he wants to leave the club this summer.
The 27-year-old England captain is believed to want to resolve his club future before the Euros, which begin on June 11, after finishing as the Premier League's top goalscorer for the third time in his career.
Speaking after announcing a provisional 33-man England squad for the Euros on Tuesday, Southgate said: "I don't ever need to have a conversation with Harry Kane regarding focus or professionalism. He has one goal this summer while he's with us and that's to win a European Championship.
"I know how important that is for him at this moment in time. What's going on at his club is a matter for him and Tottenham.
"He's obviously made some statements in the last few days, so in many respects that's out of the way now. I am talking across the board here, I think it's very unlikely transfer deals will be done while we're away.
"I think that's different when we have our camps in September, and we're on that deadline and every now and then we've had to help facilitate a medical or a meeting between a player and manager.
"I'm very realistic about those things. We're not going to stop phones ringing. We can't control conversations that are going on in private, but I wouldn't expect it - I think most deals are done at the end of tournaments or they are done in the first week after the end of the season.
"I would expect, across the board, for anything with our players to be after the tournament."
Premier League champions Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea have all been in touch with Kane's representatives expressing a desire to sign the striker, who has three years to run on the six-year contract he signed in 2018.
Kane has publicly spoken of wanting to avoid finishing his career with any "regrets", with the Spurs talisman yet to win a trophy at the club.
"I never said I'd stay at Spurs for the rest of my career and I've never said I'd leave Spurs," Kane told Gary Neville's YouTube show, The Overlap.
"People might say, 'he's desperate for trophies, he needs trophies', but I feel like I've still got almost another career to play.
"I've got seven, eight years, kind of what I've already had in the Premier League. So I'm not rushing anything, I'm not desperate to do anything."
England begin their Euros campaign against Croatia on June 13, before further group-stage games at Wembley against Scotland and Czech Republic on June 18 and 22 respectively.
