Harry Kane at Burnley! How Tottenham stopped transfer happening in sliding doors moment for England & Bayern Munich striker

The north London heavyweights were always convinced they had a special talent on their hands, but a series of loan spells for Kane did not play out as planned. He hit nine goals through 27 appearances while on the books at Millwall.

End product was in short supply across subsequent stints at Norwich and Leicester, leading to questions being asked of whether Spurs would be open to a sale. Sean Dyche, during his time in charge of Burnley, was among those to explore the option of securing Kane’s signature.

Dyche told talkSPORT when asked about deals that he wishes had gone through: “The only one that I'm on record for was the Harry Kane one. That was because people think that I tried to sign him like being daft when he was up and running, but I didn't. I tried to sign him when he'd had a couple of loans that didn't really work that well.

“He'd done really well at Millwall, which is when I first got eyes on him, because some of my mates I played with at Millwall were still there, and they really thought a lot of him. He was a very young man as well, but held his own in it. Millwall can be a tough place to play and he held his own and did well there. Then he went on a couple of loans and [became] a sort of bit part player coming off the bench.

“So I, by chance, bumped into him on a holiday in Portugal, and his family, and had a chat with him, and it was his dad and just kind of made a phone call. But it was big money, even then. I mean, Tottenham are not mugs. I remember [former Spurs striker and now club ambassador] Clive Allen, telling me what a player he was and what a finisher.”

Dyche added: “I must make it clear, it was never close, [Tottenham] asked for big money and apparently money [at Burnley] was hard to come by with the chairman and the board, so we weren't going to pay that.

“He was probably the one when I really chased as hard as I could, but the numbers were just too big at the time. They obviously realised they've got a real talent and what a talent he is without a shadow of a doubt, top, top player.”

Kane went on to enjoy a breakthrough season at Tottenham in 2014-15. From there he netted 280 goals through 435 appearances and became Spurs’ all-time leading scorer. He holds the same record with England, netting 73 times, and is captain of the Three Lions. His trophy curse was finally lifted with Bayern Munich in 2025 when winning the Bundesliga title.