Tottenham fans cheer Harry Kane as speculation over future intensifies

Harry Kane made his first Tottenham appearance since reports emerged claiming he had asked to leave the club this summer.

It was not the night he would have wished for as Spurs went down to a 2-1 defeat which severely hurt their Europa League qualification hopes.

Here, the PA news agency takes a look at Kane’s evening.

Another pre-match award

Kane has never been short of individual awards – it is team trophies that is proving the problem – and there was another one on offer before the game. The England striker, who has had a brilliant personal season, was named as the Official Supporters’ Club and One Hotspur members’ player of the season.

Fan reaction

There was never any doubt how the Spurs fans would react to their star man and they showed him love in spades. Some of the lucky 10,000 fans that got a ticket brought banners, one saying ‘Harry Kane, Tottenham legend’, while another held by two children asked him never to leave. All 10,000 were in unison in giving him the loudest cheer when the teams were read out and then took less than a minute to sing his name. His lap of the pitch at the end of the game could easily be dressed up as a goodbye to the fans and he did make a point of going to all four sides of the ground, though was later joined by several other players.

Performance

If this was to be Kane’s last home game as a player then he will have regrets about how it went. The England captain has often been the lone plus in a sea of negatives but even that was not the case as he was just as abject as the rest of his team. He had to wait until well into the second half to get his first shot on goal, but that was an ambitious first-time effort at the far post which sailed well over. He could not affect the game in the way he would have liked and cut a frustrated figure as Spurs limped to a 2-1 defeat, which could mean that if Kane is still at the club next season, he might not even have Europa League action.