Antonio Conte has admitted he is a big admirer of Harry Kane and believes the Tottenham striker is worth “at least” £100m in the current transfer market.
Despite the arrival of Álvaro Morata for an initial £58m earlier this month, the Italian manager, whose side will face Internazionale in a friendly on Saturday in Singapore, singled out the England striker as the player he would most like to sign.
“Tottenham is a really good squad if they are able to keep all the players,” said Conte. “For me, Kane, now, is one of the best strikers in the world. If I had to buy one striker I would go to Kane. He is a complete striker.
“He is strong physically, with the ball, without the ball, he fights and he’s strong in the air and acrobatic on the right and the left. He’s a complete player. He’s one of the top strikers in the world. If you go to buy Kane now it would be at least £100m. At least. For me, if I see this price for a striker I know for sure he’s a big striker.”
Kane has scored 93 goals over the last three seasons with 29 in the Premier League last season as Tottenham finished as runners-up behind Chelsea. Mauricio Pochettino has yet to make any new signings this summer but Conte suggested his counterpart is under far less pressure to win silverware. “If they don’t win the title, it’s not a tragedy,” he said. “If they don’t arrive in the Champions League, it’s not a tragedy. For Chelsea, Arsenal, City, United and... I don’t know... Liverpool, it is a tragedy.”
Conte also revealed that Chelsea missed out on right-back Kyle Walker, who moved to Manchester City earlier this summer for an initial fee of £45m which could rise to £50m. “We tried to buy Walker,” he said. “Honestly, I think now every single player is expensive. For you to even enquire about one player, he is expensive. You go to buy a right-back, a left-back or a central defender and he is expensive. It is very difficult in the transfer market for the teams that need to improve their squads.”
