Tottenham told futures of Harry Kane and Antonio Conte depend entirely on one thing – Robbie Fowler

The futures of Tottenham boss Antonio Conte and striker Harry Kane have have both been the subject of intense speculation with claims the pair will quit the club in the summer

I’ve already said in my column before that I don’t see Antonio Conte sticking around if things don’t go his way at Tottenham – and the future of Harry Kane is clearly another rather large, grey proboscis mammal in the room.

If they don’t finish in the Champions League spots, I can’t see Kane or Conte having the appetite to trudge around the margins of Europe in a minor competition again next season, barely feigning interest, let alone a desire to be there.

I remember Harry’s face when they lost to Mura. I barely even remember where they come from (and my apologies to the good people of Slovenia, no offence!), but that sort of embarrassment sticks in the memory.

If it is a choice between that sort of game of moving to a club with a better prospect of actually joining the big boys at the top table, then, honestly, I reckon neither of them would think twice at this stage of their careers. Ok, it’s not as simple as that. They are under contract, I get it, and we saw with Kane last year, Daniel Levy can be incredibly bloody-minded in negotiations. But you know what, I reckon the Spurs chairman is regretting that stance now. What were Manchester City offering, £130m? I remember there was talk of throwing Bernardo Silva in, and even Aymeric Laporte.

Kane is a year older – he’ll be 29 in the summer – and has a year less on his contract. He’s not getting any more expensive. And that’s before you even consider that he was nowhere near his best for the first half of the season. I can’t, and won’t blame him for that. He felt he had an agreement to leave, and if you believe that and it’s denied, then you are bound to be destabilised. I actually admire the fact he’s turned his season around so well.

If that story is true, then if he’s anything like me (and us strikers do tend to have the same determined mentality) then he’ll be even more adamant he has to go this summer…especially if there is no Champions League next season. I don’t see how Spurs can keep him if that’s the case, and not just because of his ambition. How are they going to finance the rebuild that is clearly required? Tottenham are miles away from Chelsea, never mind Liverpool or City, and in terms of young talent and the potential currently at the club.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Kane and Conte be at Spurs next season? Let us know in the comments section

You have to believe that Manchester United, with all their resources, can’t stay this bad for much longer. Under a young coach with a clearly defined philosophy next season, and with the money they will have to spend, they surely are a better bet than Tottenham going forward. Perhaps they’d be ready to bid serious money to get the guarantee of Kane’s goals, I don’t know. Perhaps he’d be persuaded to go there…though I suspect he’d jump at a club with better prospects of winning the biggest trophies if he had it.

Maybe if Spurs got that £130m for him this summer, then Conte would be happy to stay and spend that. But this is a guy who walked out of Inter Milan because of broken promises and players being sold. Hell, he even kicked off at Chelsea because he felt he wasn’t backed enough, so lord knows what he’s thinking now. What we do know, is he will walk if he doesn’t get what he wants, and it doesn’t matter how tough a negotiator Levy is, it won’t stop him.

We’ve heard the noises already of course. I don’t know if that’s just bluster or not, but if they don’t get into the Champions League, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he went at the end of the season. Neither they nor Arsenal has been consistent, which makes it a hard contest to call. Both Conte and Kane will be thinking it has to improve pretty dramatically on and off the pitch, or they will both have big decisions to make in May.