Tottenham striker Harry Kane gave the biggest indication yet that he is ready to leave the club and says he will control his own future.
Kane is reported to have told Spurs he wants to be sold this summer after becoming frustrated at the lack of progress at the north London club over recent years.
The England captain, who is 28 in July, still has three years left on his contract and Spurs have been steadfast in their stance that Kane is not for sale, which means there could be a stand-off this summer.
Kane says he needs a conversation with chairman Daniel Levy about his future.
“I think it’s definitely a conversation to be had with the club. I want to be playing in the biggest games. The biggest moments,” Kane told Gary Neville in an episode of The Overlap podcast.
“Like, this season I’m there watching the Champions League, watching the English teams in there doing amazing.
“They are the games that I want to be involved in. I want to be in them games.
“So for sure, it’s a moment in my career where I have to kind of reflect and see where I’m at and have a good, honest conversation with the chairman. I hope that we can have that conversation.
“I’m sure that he’ll want to set out the plan of where he sees it but ultimately it’s going to be down to me and how I feel and what’s going to be the best for me and my career in this moment in time.
“I hope we have a good enough relationship. I’ve given the club… well, I’ve been there 16 years of my life.
“So, I hope that we can have a good, honest conversation and see where we are at in that aspect.”
Spurs have been hit hard in the pocket by the coronavirus pandemic and could attain a hefty figure, likely to be in excess of £150million, if they cashed in on Kane.
It seems unlikely, but Kane says Levy, who he has had a good relationship with, might decide the time is right to attain the highest fee possible.
“He’s been great with me if I’m totally honest,” Kane added. “I mean, he’s always rewarded me with contracts. Like obviously I signed maybe a four or five-year deal when I was 21 but I’ve done well so he’s added to that.
“He’s been great with me. He’s been fair with me. He’s never kind of just held me onto a contract and said, ‘No, I’ve paid you that. You’re going to stay on that’.
“So, we’ve always had a good relationship. But I’m not sure how that conversation will go if I’m honest.
“But you know what it’s like as players you don’t know what the chairman is thinking. I don’t know, I mean he might want to sell me.
“He might be thinking, ‘If I could get 100 million for you, then why not?’. Do you know what I mean? I’m not going to be worth that for the next two or three years.”
Kane has had chances to win silverware at Spurs, having been involved in two Premier League title races, lost two Carabao Cup finals and also the 2019 Champions League final.
But they are currently heading in the wrong direction, facing the prospect of no European football next season, still searching for a new manager and in need of a serious squad overhaul.
Kane says he does not want to end his career with regrets.
He added: “For me it is, I don’t want to have come to the end of my career and have any regrets.
“So, I want to be the best that I can be. I’ve said before, I’d never say that I’d stay at Spurs for the rest of my career. I’d never say that I would leave Spurs.
“People might look at it as, ‘he’s desperate for trophies, he needs trophies’.
“I still feel like I’ve still got almost another career to play. I’ve got another seven or eight years.”