Antonio Conte says Tottenham want to keep Harry Kane ‘for the rest of his career’

Antonio Conte has given his thoughts on Harry Kane‘s future on Tottenham, as well as the top-four race in his latest press conference.

The Spurs manager spoke to the media today ahead of their trip to Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday.

England captain Kane’s future is hot on the agenda at Tottenham, with just one year left on his deal after this.

Conte gave his thoughts on Kane, and also made a bizarre comparison between football and the NBA while describing the top-four race.

Asked about Kane’s future, he said: ‘I think that this is a question for the club because for sure the club wants to involve Harry Kane for the rest of his career in my opinion, for when you have a world class striker like him you want him to stay for the rest of his career.

Antonio Conte has insisted that Tottenham want to keep Harry Kane for the rest of his career but admitted that ‘football can be unpredictable’ and that it is not his decision

‘But then you know football and sometimes it’s unpredictable but it’s not in my role to make a decision. This is a decision for the club and for Harry.’

Tottenham currently occupy the fourth spot for the final Champions League qualification place.

Conte suggested that teams such as Brighton and Brentford are also in the race for a top-four finish, along with the more fancied teams such as Spurs, Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea.

The Italian suggested that Liverpool and Chelsea’s struggles this season show that ‘football is going to become like the NBA’ and said that Tottenham ‘have to be ready for it’.

He said: ‘Don’t forget that Liverpool last season until the end of the season they were in a fantastic run to win everything. They lost in the Champions League final and finished second one point behind City. 

Conte also said that football ‘is going to become like the NBA’ when talking about their top-four fight this season

His comments seemed to insinuate that teams are not guaranteed a spot towards the top of the table even if they challenge for major trophies in recent years

Tottenham are in the driving seat for the top-four above the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea

‘They won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup. We are talking about a big team. Then it shows that in one season you can struggle.

‘Chelsea won their last Premier League with me. It can happen. This type of situation, Liverpool situation, underlines the difficulty of the Premier League. 

‘It’s the most difficult league. Guardiola said he knows that every game you have to battle. Football is going to become like the NBA and we have to be ready for it.’

Though it’s not totally clear on what Conte means by football ‘is going to become like the NBA,’ it could be assumed he means that teams challenging for the title one year might suffer a decline the next and might not always be guaranteed a place near the top of the standings. 

In his press conference, Conte also insisted he doesn’t think the club is considering sacking him before the end of the season.

He said that he was joking when he suggested that might be the case after they were knocked out of the Champions League by AC Milan.