Postecoglou knew Kane had ‘made up his mind’ to leave Tottenham after their first conversation

Ange Postecoglou has revealed he felt Harry Kane had “made up his mind” that he was going to leave Tottenham if there was a transfer agreement in place after their “initial conversation”.

Postecoglou is preparing for his first competitive game as Spurs boss. They take on Brentford on Sunday (August 13) in their opening game of the Premier League season.

The former Celtic boss has made some good improvements to his side, bringing in the likes of James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Guglielmo Vicario among others.

The potential exit of striker Kane has been hanging over his head since he arrived, though. The manager has revealed that after their very first conversation, he knew Kane would leave,.

“I didn’t see the point in [pitching myself] because whatever I was going to say was going to be irrelevant. I could plan his grand vision but I’m sure he’d heard it all before. My feeling was we’ll get to know each other, that’s the best way to navigate this early bit,” he said, via football.london.

“Having said that, in my mind after that initial conversation [on the first day], he’d made up his mind that if the clubs agreed he’d go but he was also happy to stay if they didn’t.”

It now looks likely that Kane will leave, with Tottenham having accepted a bid from Bayern Munich for him. Postecoglou is resigned to the fact that will happen, barring a massive collapse.

“Fair to say I don’t have a blow-by-blow account of the whole thing but fair to say it’s progressed to the point where it looks like it’s going to happen. It gives us clarity and unless something unforeseen happens we’ll move on,” he said.

While there’s not a definitive replacement in place that the manager would like to go and get, that he knew this day was coming means he’s compiled a list of strikers that could possibly be signed.

“I don’t think there’s a like-for-like replacement for Harry. We’ve been planning for this for a while to be fair. It doesn’t take too much investigative work to know that this was going to happen. Our business up to now reflects that,” he said.

Despite the fact he’s only just joined the club, Postecoglou believes it’s clear the striker is one of the best to ever play for Tottenham.

“It’s best Harry speaks for himself on the decision but there’s no doubts he’s one of the greats of this football club,” Postecoglou added.

“His record speaks for itself. I’m only new in the building but I’m certainly not the spokesman for this football club in declaring people’s status but I think it’s clear Harry Kane is one of the greats.”

In the short-term, Postecoglou will have to play somebody up top against Brentford before signing a new forward. He might have been short of options had Richarlison been unfit, but the manager has confirmed the striker “came through fine” after a knock.

READ MORE: Harry Kane blasted for handling of ‘shambolic’ Tottenham exit as he hid decision, strands Spurs