Tottenham cannot sell Harry Kane or Hugo Lloris to Real Madrid

Tottenham Hotspur cannot be a feeder club for Real Madrid.

It’s happening again. It’s happening again. Watch out, Tottenham Hotspur. It’s happening again.

Being an individual who actively follows Tottenham is no easy task. I recently touched upon that very subject. Such fans should be flying high at the start of the week, following the events of this past weekend when Spurs rallied back from behind to defeat North London rivals Arsenal, 2-1, at White Hart Lane.

It was truly a dream outing for the Tottenham faithful, even for those who live in the western portion of the United States and had to wake up at 4:30 am to catch the match.

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A young man who has turned into a local Tottenham hero in less than a season struck for the brace that sunk the Gunners, and Spurs are very much so in the race for that coveted Champions League spot as of the second week of February.

This is Tottenham we are talking about, however, and thus any good feelings about the club could naturally only last so long before something happened to ruin the bliss.

That something this time around is a story from the London Evening Standard that has claimed that Spanish giants Real Madrid have scouted Tottenham front man Harry Kane, the 21-year old who has blossomed and become the top striker in all of the Premier League and who downed Arsenal on Saturday, a total of three times this season.

That same story also linked Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris to Real, although such speculation has been floated out there in the past.

From Tom Collomosse:

"“The European champions are following closely the progress of the Tottenham forward, who is currently the brightest young star in English football.Standard Sport understands that Madrid have no immediate plans to make an offer for Kane, who has just signed a new five-year contract with a significant pay rise. But after seeing him at close quarters for the first time, Madrid scouts were sufficiently impressed to pay two more return visits to watch the 21-year-old in action.”"

Collomosse quoted Kane, who recently put pen to paper on a five-year extension with Tottenham, as having stated the following on his future:

"“If I’m still here in 10 years, I’d be over the moon. A lot of players today, when they do well, they end up going to another club or moving abroad. It depends on the situation at the time but at the moment, I’m looking to be a Tottenham player for many years”"

Nobody could blame any Tottenham fan for literally screaming out loud upon finding such a report. It was, after all, only three summers ago when Spurs agreed to what became an infamous partnership with Real. The start of that partnership involved Tottenham selling star midfielder Luka Modric to Real, a transaction that was more understandable for Spurs than it was forgivable. Modric began to plan his Tottenham exit the prior year, and he would have gotten his wish in 2011 had then-manager Harry Redknapp not refused to sell the midfielder.

It will never be so black-and-white as it pertains to the sale of Gareth Bale.

Bale was reportedly happy at the Lane following his breakout 2012-13 season, during which he was unquestionably the top player in the Premier League. He had a close personal relationship with then-manager Andre Villas-Boas, so much so that Bale gave his newborn daughter the name Alba Violet (A.V.B.).

Villas-Boas had been informed that Bale was remaining at Tottenham, Bale had been used in the club’s kit unveiling, and the player told reporters that he was committed to Spurs. The supposed idea was to build around Bale to push Tottenham toward contending for the Premier League title.

That, of course, didn’t happen.

Bale went silent in July 2013 as rumors of his representatives meeting with Real swirled about, and Villas-Boas was hung out to dry when his best player was sold for a massive fee. AVB’s plans for the upcoming season were shot, and he and Tottenham parted ways before the end of the year. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy lost nearly every defender, becoming the top enemy among a fan base that felt that the club was not doing whatever it could to be one of the best teams in England.

Fast-forward to the present time when Tottenham once again possess a duo of talented players. Lloris may be the top goalkeeper in the world, a phenomenal athlete who has saved points for Spurs on multiple occasions since joining Tottenham in 2012.

Kane, meanwhile, has been a revelation under coach Mauricio Pochettino, scoring more goals across all competitions than any other Premier League striker this season to date. A Tottenham fan at a young age who is now living his dream in front of worldwide audiences, Kane is one of the better stories in all of the footballing world at the moment.

The supposed partnership involving Tottenham and Real quietly vanished at some point, but that does not mean that the reigning holders of the Champions League trophy cannot go sniffing around the Lane, all the while (allegedly) bending transfer regulations while quietly sliding salary figures to player reps.

Levy now must realize that even accepting a phone call from Real president Florentino Perez could lead to serious repercussions on and off of the pitch.

We don’t yet know what Kane will be as a professional footballer. He could develop under Pochettino as Bale did under Villas-Boas. Kane could flame out, with 2014-15 being a one-off for the striker. There are, on the other hand, no doubts about how special of a player Lloris, who turned 28-years old in December, is while in the prime of his career.

Levy was given a pass on the Modric deal because it was publicly known that the player had called time on his Tottenham career before the end of the previous season. The Bale sale stung supporters, sure, but the pain was diminished by the signing of the so-called “Magnificent Seven,” most notably Christian Eriksen. There would, however, be no way to positively sell allowing either Kane or Lloris to join Real to fans that have been burned by Tottenham time after time after time.

Levy would see a true revolt, one that would include customers giving up tickets and giving up merchandise.

To Levy’s credit, both Kane and Lloris have recently signed new deals with Tottenham, and thus the club holds all of the power in any future transfer negotiations. Levy pledged at the conclusion of the 2011-12 campaign that Spurs would not be in the business of selling the team’s best players on a yearly basis.

He would be wise to remember his words once the summer transfer window rolls around.

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