TEDDY SHERINGHAM knows how Harry Kane feels — and believes his time at Spurs is up.
Sheringham, 55, quit Tottenham for the first time in 1997 to fulfil his ambition to lift trophies and ended up winning the Treble with Manchester United.
Prem champions Manchester City want to add Kane to their star-studded line-up — but not at the £160m Spurs would want.
Both Tottenham and Kane, 27, will wait to see if United can be tempted into a bidding war.
The former England forward said: “I feel there is a little bit of stalling at Spurs at the moment.
“I don’t quite see they’re on the up that they were two years ago, when Pochettino was in charge, they got to the Champions League final and they were moving into the new stadium.
“Everything was on the up. Things haven’t quite gone how Harry would have liked.
“That is the situation I was in when I said I wanted to leave Tottenham. The ambition wasn’t at the club to bring fantastic players to Tottenham.
“I wanted the best players to play with me at Tottenham. I didn’t want to have to go and play anywhere else.
“Luckily for me, it fell into place and I ended up with the chance to go to Man Utd. You’ve got to look at your career. He’s probably got six years left at the top.
“You want to test yourself against the top clubs and top players. You want to play in big competitions, at the highest level, and have a chance of winning them. That’s what he’s in football for.
“You cannot have regrets. You’ve got to weigh things up as you go along because you are a long time finished. You have to make the right decisions at the right times.”
‘ALL BUT INEVITABLE’
Sheringham feels Kane’s departure from Tottenham became all but inevitable when the England captain gave an interview to Gary Neville back in May.
Kane told Neville about his desire to win trophies, his admiration for City star Kevin De Bruyne and his desire for an ‘honest conversation’ with Spurs supremo Daniel Levy about his future.
Sheringham said: “A couple of months ago, before the Euros, he came out and said he wanted to go and play with people like De Bruyne.
“The writing’s on the wall, for me. For him to come out and say that, he must have an understanding with Levy that if they get an offer big enough, then he will go.
“When someone of Harry’s reputation has come out and said that, he was forewarning the Tottenham fans: ‘Sorry, I need to leave, I need to play at the top level’.
“He would have thought long and hard about that.
“If he’s said it, it’s going to happen. I’d be very surprised if he was still at Tottenham at the start of the season.”
‘CITY TO PLAY LONG GAME’
Spurs are due to kick-off their Premier League campaign on August 15 against, of all clubs, Manchester City.
Sheringham said: “Funnily enough, my first game for United was against Spurs. So there could be another comparison there.”
As SunSport reported, City are prepared to play the long game to secure their top target and force the price down.
But Sheringham thinks it would be in the best interests of Tottenham and new manager Nuno Espirito Santo to agree a quick deal.
He said: “You don’t want to be going into the start of the season, then selling your best player. You need new players to bed in, so the quicker a deal is done the better.
“There will be a lot of work going on behind the scenes: ‘If we do get £150m for Harry, who are we going to get in? Is it good business for us?’
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“I’m sure Nuno will have a lot of irons in the fire for who he wants to come in. But if you are going to let Harry go, get it done so you can get some business done.
“Harry can’t just say he wants to go, and go for £50m. We’ve all seen how Levy works in the past — if he gets the right offer, it works both ways. He will definitely play hardball.
“Nuno has said Harry is going nowhere. But I can’t believe after Harry came out with what he said a couple of months ago, that he will start the season at Tottenham again.”
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