Conte defends Levy's Kane transfer decision after Guardiola jibe

Antonio Conte has praised Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy for his "great decision" surrounding the future of talismanic striker Harry Kane.

The England skipper was relentlessly touted with a move away from Spurs throughout last summer's transfer window, with reigning champions Manchester City the most interested, though Levy stood firm and did not budge on his asking price.

Levy's stance on Kane's future is something that Conte can be incredibly thankful for now that he is at the helm, but it evidently rubbed City boss Pep Guardiola up the wrong way.

"We tried to open the door to negotiate, but the big master of negotiations Daniel Levy knows everything, we couldn't do it," he bemoaned, seemingly sarcastically.

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But Conte has celebrated Levy's handling of the situation, with the Italian now working closely with the striker.

"The club decided to keep Harry in the team and I think it was a great choice by the owner," said Conte.

"In this way you are showing you want to try to continue to build something important around one of the best players in your team.

"I followed the situation but now it is not right to look at the past. Now we have to live in the present, which says that Harry is a player at Tottenham and continues to be one of the best players in this team.

"He wants to give 100 per cent in every game and I am totally satisfied with his commitment and the relationship that we have created within the team.

"He is a point of reference in the dressing room and an experienced player. I am totally enthusiastic about his involvement in the team and the Tottenham project."

"In the summer I followed the situation about Harry and I saw what happened and what could happen," he said.

At the time of the Kane saga, former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo was actually in charge of the club, appointed in late June, and clarity surrounding his striker's future was the first thing on the agenda for his first few press conferences.

He lasted less than 200 days and was dismissed from his post in November after both Spurs as a collective and Kane individually looked like a shadow of their former selves under his stewardship.

Kane notched just one goal under Santo in the league, but since Conte's appointment Tottenham's record Premier League goal-scorer has looked someway back to his best.

Kane has already discussed the added motivation he now feels playing under a serial winner like Conte, whose main task is to secure the silverware that has eluded Spurs and their star striker for so long.

But Conte needs Kane just as much and has reflected on what it has been like to guide the striker, insisting the transfer speculation of the summer is now a distant memory.

"First of all, we are talking about a really good person and a really good man," he said. "And I think this is the most important thing.

"Because I knew the situation in the summer and, when Harry decided to stay in Tottenham, I found a player totally involved in this project now.

"I am happy to have him in my team because for sure we are talking about the top player, a top striker in the world, and if we want to win or if we want to think to build something to win, Harry must be a point of start.

"This is normal and he knows very well my opinion, but I repeat I'm very happy to work with him and I think that he has enjoyed the time, what we are building with the team and that is all."

It is unlikely Spurs will be able to demand the kind of fee they were in the summer ever again, given Kane's age and semi-regular injury concerns.