Tottenham striker Harry Kane has confirmed he has held talks with his club over his conduct in the summer when he appeared to refuse to report back for pre-season training.
Kane was linked with Manchester City all summer, and had gone into the Euro 2020 tournament having publicly stated he wanted to leave Spurs to win more trophies.
After the Euros, having guided England to the final, Kane's future was the subject of intense scrutiny as City attempted to sign the prolific forward. In what looked to be an attempt to force the move through, Kane did not report back to Tottenham training on August 2 with the majority of his teammates, instead staying away.
At the time, Kane refuted claims he was staying away intentionally, writing on August 6 that: "While I won’t go into the specifics of the situation, I want to clarify that I would never, and have never, refused to train. I will be returning to the club tomorrow, as planned."
After eventually reporting back for pre-season fitness and Covid testing, Kane trained with his Spurs teammates on August 17, and on August 26 he confirmed he would be staying at Spurs.
Now, Kane has been asked about the sequence of events and confirmed there have been talks with Spurs over his return.
“That’s between me and the club,” he said on Thursday. “We’ve had discussions about it internally and that’s the way it will stay.”
Kane also defended his brother — who is also his agent — over his handling of the summer transfer situation, which ultimately ended with Kane failing to land his dream transfer and remaining at Spurs.
He said: “Whatever the circumstance, whenever there is stuff being written about your family, it’s always maybe a little bit difficult to take, especially when it’s stuff that’s negative.
“In the summer there was a lot of stuff about my brother being my agent. That’s where we stick together. I know what he does for me as an agent, I know what he does for me as a brother and that’s all that matters. The rest is just noise.
“When things are difficult, it’s important that you talk about it and not just hide it and suck it up. But it’s important that you have people around you that you can trust to do that. That’s what I’ve got.
“I’ve always tried to deal with things in this way. Good or bad – just open up. Overall, I feel like mentally I am in a good place and I’m really ready to go over this tough period in the winter.”
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