Harry Kane insists Tottenham can challenge for the Premier League title this season and says their summer signings have the mentality to help them “over the line” to win silverware.
Spurs begin the most hectic campaign in history at home to Everton on Sunday following a disappointing sixth-placed finish last season.
Jose Mourinho’s quest to turn his players from “nice boys” into serial winners — detailed in Amazon Prime’s ongoing fly-on-the-wall documentary — has been boosted by the signings of former Southampton captain Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, title-winner Joe Hart and Matt Doherty from Wolves.
Mourinho has said Spurs can win the title in his first full season, but the club faces a huge challenge to compete with Manchester City and Liverpool, as well as big-spending Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal, and Kane believes a first League triumph since 1961 should not be ruled out.
“Jose has made it clear what he wants and you’ve seen from the documentary what he thinks we need and what we can do better,” Kane told Standard Sport.
“That’s down to us. We’ve got to take that responsibility on, change that mould and get ourselves over the line. Obviously the Premier League top six or seven is going to be really tough.
“It’s going to be a big step to win the Premier League but, for sure, we have a chance. We’ll have a big eye on winning one of the other trophies – that’s what Jose wants to do.
“Over the past four, five or six years, we’ve grown a lot as a club. We’ve come close, obviously in the Champions League [Final], the Carabao Cup and the Premier League, finishing second a couple of times. I guess it is just that mentality of getting over the line [that’s missing].
“The extra we need isn’t much. Harty and his experience – he’s obviously won trophies, played in big games before and is leader – is a great voice to have around the dressing room.
“Pierre was captain at Southampton and I’m sure his leadership qualities will show. Doherty is a great lad, great around the dressing room.”
Spurs are also hoping to add a new striker to ease the pressure on Kane ahead of the truncated campaign, which concludes with the delayed European Championship in June.
The squad are unlikely to have a free midweek until December at the earliest, while they are facing playing on Tuesday and Thursday in the same week twice later this month.
The England captain insists he is not concerned that the club is yet to sign another centre-forward and says he is relishing the packed schedule ahead.
“I don’t think it concerns me, there’s still two to three weeks left in the transfer window,” said Kane, who is an ambassador for Coca-Cola’s ‘Make Your Home the Home End’ campaign. “In recent seasons you’ve seen how other people have stepped in and done a great job.
“It’s going to be a tough season. We’re going to have to adapt as we go along if there are games where maybe we can rest and get a bit more time to recover – it’s going to be vital to do that.
“I love playing games, I love playing football. It’s going to be a season where we’re not going to be able to train much. It’s going to be play-recovery-play-recovery. But as a striker, I don’t mind that.
“If you’re in hot form, you manage to get your goals and you feel sharp and ready and go onto the next one and the next one. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve obviously missed a lot of football because of injury and the virus over the last six or seven months or so. So I can’t wait to get going, get into a routine and take my game to another level.”
(London Evening Standard)