September 19, 2024

Tottenham have played their first match of the Ange Postecoglou era with a behind-closed-doors friendly against Cambridge United.

The match reportedly featured 12 Under-21 players, with many senior first-team stars – such as Harry Kane – returning for pre-season training on Wednesday.

Captain Hugo Lloris was among the senior players on show and played in goal in the second half.

The match, played at Hotspur Way, is understood to have finished 1-1 with Dane Scarlett equalising after the visitors went ahead.

Tottenham’s next game is against London rivals West Ham in Perth next Tuesday, with both teams spending time in Australia as part of separate tours.

Spurs are due to fly out over the weekend after the full first-team squad has some time on the training ground.

The squad then face Leicester City in Thailand and Roma in Singapore, though the latter game is reportedly under threat of cancellation.

Postecoglou will then take his club back to London to conclude pre-season preparations at home against Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk.

 

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Harry Kane’s private thoughts on Tottenham stay ahead of showdown Ange Postecoglou talks

Harry Kane has just 12 months left on his deal with Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich are hoping to sign him this summer, having already made two bids for the England captain

Tottenham striker Harry Kane is set for his first meeting with new manager Ange Postecoglou on Wednesday and his future looks set to be the main talking point.

Kane has just one year left on his contract and has been the subject of heavy interest from Bayern Munich, with Thomas Tuchel desperate to bring the England captain to Germany. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy does not want to sell Kane and is hopeful he will sign a new contract.

And the Daily Mail report that Kane is ‘keeping a fully open mind’ ahead of his pre-season return. The report states that he is ‘looking forward to meeting Postecoglou’ and will be ‘open to all options’ when he speaks with the Australian, despite Bayern’s interest.

However, he has also ‘shown no immediate indication’ he is prepared to sign a new contract. Postecoglou was asked about Kane’s future when he spoke to the media for the first time since being unveiled as Tottenham boss on Monday and said that while he hopes he will stay, he will “not lose any sleep” over it.

“I haven’t had any assurances and I wouldn’t expect any assurances, because when you’re dealing with these kind of things you’re never dealing with definitives or certainties in anything in life,” he said. ‌”That’s just my nature. I just kind of go along and try to concentrate on the things I know right now.

“What I know right now is that Harry is part of this squad and he’s looking forward to coming back to training and being amongst these players and starting to work together. So in the meantime, I’m not going to lose time or sleep on conjecture that may or may not be out there because then you’re jumping at shadows – how much of it is true, how much of it is not true.‌

“Nothing’s landed on my desk at this moment from anybody at the club to say there’s a decision to be made there. Not even close to that, so because of that I’m looking forward to having Harry here on Wednesday and getting ready for the tour.‌

“He’s one of the premier strikers in the world and I want him involved. My conversation with him will be about how we can make this club successful. And I’ve got no doubts that what he wants as well.

“He’s been very, very successful individually for a long time, pretty much from when he first started at this football club. He would be the first to say that we need a strong team and that’s where my focus is.

“To build a team will reflect the same sort of individual excellence that he’s had in the team context. I’m certainly big on team ethos and making sure we need a strong unit if we are going to be successful and I’m sure that Harry would be the first to voice that needs to be the case.”

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