Mauricio Pochettino says ‘priceless’ Harry Kane can become Tottenham’s Francesco Totti

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Nick Purewal29 December 2017

Harry Kane is "priceless" to Tottenham and could spend his entire career at Spurs, according to boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Record-breaking striker Kane is battling a cold to be fit for Spurs' Premier League trip to Swansea on Tuesday.

The 24-year-old has racked up a record 39 league goals in the calendar year, overhauling Alan Shearer's 20-year-old mark of 36.

Shearer has since claimed Kane could stay at his home town club for his full career, leaving Spurs manager Pochettino to admit that remains a possibility.

"I think Alan Shearer knows better than me, because he's English and knows the mentality of the country," said Pochettino.

"Maybe he said that because maybe it's possible.

"Maybe Harry Kane with his mentality can be the same kind of player for Tottenham as Francesco Totti was for Roma.

"And for us, our fans and everyone, Harry is a fantastic player, a great mentality and a fantastic professional.

"So yes, why not, why not?

"I think Harry doesn't have a price, because we want him here. He's priceless, there is no price.

"We can talk about many things, but at the end it's talk for talk, because it's impossible to put a price on him.

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"He's not suddenly become a superstar because of achieving an amazing record.

"Nothing has changed, he was a superstar three years ago, one year ago, six months ago and one week ago. We've always treated him like a superstar.

"We've trusted in him from day one here because we felt his potential, and now he deserves the full credit for what he has achieved."

Spurs boss Pochettino has insisted that Kane remains not for sale and fully committed to Tottenham, backing chairman Daniel Levy to resist any bids for the England hitman.

"If someone comes to knock on my door about Harry, it's easy for me; the answer is 'go and knock on Daniel Levy's door'," said Pochettino.

"Go to see Daniel, not me.

"It's easy for me, I think maybe for Daniel it would be difficult."

Asked if he trusts Levy to fend off any bids for Kane, Pochettino added: "Yes of course, of course.

"We need to talk about reality. Reality is that Liverpool offers or pays £75million for Virgil van Dijk.

"If you want a player, a club asks a price and you pay; that's it.

"That's the reality of Van Dijk. We cannot guess or create fantasy around different players."

Kane has struck 56 goals in all competitions for club and country in 2017, making him Europe's top scorer.

But the 23-cap England star now faces a race against time to recover from illness to feature in Spurs' trip to Swansea on January 2.

"Harry's ill, he has a cold," said Pochettino.

"He's at home, the doctor was at his house, we'll see tomorrow if he can come training and be here.

"We'll see if he'll be ready for Swansea, we don't know if he'll be available or not. We'll see how he reacts."

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