Spurs success the key to keeping Kane, says former Tottenham striker Ferdinand

Les Ferdinand told Stats Perform how Tottenham needs to be challenging for honours if Harry Kane is to stick around.

Tottenham captain Harry Kane

Tottenham must match Harry Kane's ambitions or else the striker will understandably want to move elsewhere to achieve success, according to Les Ferdinand.

Captain Kane has yet to win a trophy with Spurs despite his scoring feats, losing to Chelsea in the 2015 EFL Cup final before missing out to Liverpool in last year's Champions League showpiece in Madrid.

This season has seen further upheaval at the club, long-time boss Mauricio Pochettino departing as Jose Mourinho arrived to take charge. However, the Portuguese has been unable to engineer a significant upturn in fortunes so far during his tenure.

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Already knocked out of Europe's top-tier competition by RB Leipzig, Tottenham was well off the pace in the fight for a top-four finish in the Premier League when the campaign was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Kane, who has been linked with domestic rival Manchester United as well as Real Madrid, admitted last month that he will not stay at Tottenham "for the sake of it", raising doubts over his long-term future.

Ex-Spurs striker Ferdinand fears his old employer may struggle to keep hold of its prized asset if it does not get in a position to regularly challenge for honours.

"As a fan, I don't want Harry to go anywhere. I want him to stay at Tottenham and end his career at Tottenham, but we have to be realistic," Ferdinand told Stats Perform.

"Players now earn the sort of money that life shouldn't be a problem for them when they finish playing. So they get to a stage where they achieve that goal and they say, 'Right, okay'.

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"But then there's a situation where when you finish your career, the biggest thing for me now is looking back at my career and saying yes, I did okay, but what have I got to show for it? Where are the medals? And that's what you want.

"Every single player is the same. If Tottenham can match Harry's ambitions to want him to win most things, then he'll stay at Tottenham for as long as they can match those ambitions.

"If he feels like they can't, and they won't, then that's the time I think Harry will say, 'Look, I want to go and win things'. I don't think people would deny him that opportunity.

"Let's hope that Tottenham can get to a stage where they're in a position to do that, because like I said, no one wants to see him leave but I certainly would understand the situation."