Harry Kane puts speculation to one side with four goals in Tottenham friendly

By Sports Desk August 06, 2023

Harry Kane put the uncertainty over his future to one side to score four times in Tottenham’s 5-1 pre-season friendly win over Shakhtar Donetsk.

Kane has been the subject of interest from Bayern Munich all summer and the German club are reported to have lodged their latest bid for the forward on Friday.

An apparent self-imposed deadline of midnight was also set by Bayern, but there has been no further news on the outcome of that bid and Kane showed no signs that he was distracted by grabbing a hat-trick in 55 minutes against Shakhtar while being continuously serenaded by the home crowd.

Sunday’s fixture was new boss Ange Postecoglou’s first match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and he was introduced before kick-off to strong applause.

The decibel level were raised even more when Kane’s name was announced after he was included in the starting line-up and given the captain’s armband in the absence of Hugo Lloris.

After Kane had two early shots saved, he scored the first of his four-goal salvo in the 38th-minute when he fired home from the penalty spot after James Maddison had been brought down in the area.

Shakhtar did level on the verge of half-time when Kevin Kelsy headed in from close-range, but it was soon back to the Kane show.

Maddison again combined with his England team-mate in the 50th-minute when his floated crossed was nodded in at the back post by Kane.

The hat-trick was completed five minutes later when Son passed into Dejan Kulusevski, who slipped the ball between Mykola Matviyenko’s legs and Kane drilled into the bottom corner.

Spurs’ record goal-scorer had already heard several renditions of ‘he’s one of our own’ before his treble but a section of the South Stand chanted ‘we want you to stay’ after his third goal.

There was still time for one more Kane goal when substitute Manor Solomon saw his curled shot saved and Kane was there to tap in from close-range in the 79th-minute.

Postecoglou replaced the forward a minute later and Kane left the pitch to a standing ovation before he responded with applause to all four corners of the ground.

Academy graduate Dane Scarlett replaced Kane and scored with the last kick of the game with a fine left-footed effort from Kulusevski’s cross.

The full-time whistle followed and Kane walked over on his own to each side of the stadium to clap the fans still in attendance in what Tottenham supporters’ will hope is not the last time they have seen their all-time leading goal-scorer.

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