Tottenham stars 'left baffled' by transfer decision during Harry Kane standoff

Tottenham players were reportedly left 'baffled' by a transfer decision that the club's hierarchy made amid their stand-off with Harry Kane in the summer.

Kane had demanded he be allowed to leave Spurs having grown frustrated with their failure to win a major trophy despite his stunning scoring record.

Manchester City were keen to sign the England captain, but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy slapped a hefty price tag, understood to be in the region of £150million, on his star player.

With his exit stalling, Kane took the drastic measure of ensuring he was late to return to pre-season training, a move many believe was a shot across Levy's bow.

Ultimately though, City pulled out of any deal, with the Premier League champions unwilling to meet Kane's high fee.

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The senior members of the Tottenham squad were reportedly left baffled by one of the club's transfer decisions

That meant Kane stayed, though he has cut a frustrated figure for much of the season so far, with the 28-year-old clearly unhappy with life at Spurs.

Despite the threat that Kane could leave the club, which would have been a hammer blow to their attacking threat, Spurs failed to sign a replacement or even a player to provide quality back-up.

Instead, managing director of football Fabio Paratici opted to focus on the defensive options in the Spurs squad.

Goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini, centre-back Cristian Romero and right-back Emerson Royal were all brought in.

While they are all good signings, the lack of a quality alternative to Kane has come back to bite Spurs.

Kane has scored just one goal in the top-flight this season, having struck 23 times last year to win the Golden Boot.

While he has not been helped by the defensive tactics deployed by former boss Nuno Espirito Santo, Kane has looked terribly out of form.

But Nuno had faced little choice other than to persist with the struggling striker, with few options available to lead the line.

Harry Kane has endured a wretched start to the season, scoring just one Premier League goal ( Image:

Getty Images)

Even Jose Mourinho was given an alternative option at striker, with Carlos Vinicius arriving on loan from Benfica.

Though he only scored 10 goals in all competitions, the signing of Vinicius did allow Mourinho more options when Kane was out of form or in need of a rest.

According to The Athletic, the decision to not give Nuno a similar alternative striker left senior member of the squad 'baffled'.

That failure has been critical to the club's mixed start to the season, with Tottenham among the lowest scorers in the league.

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While Kane was still building up his match fitness at the start of the campaign, Nuno had selected a front line of Steven Bergwijn, Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura.

But Spurs only scored two goals in those two games, with Kane starting every Premier League game since the win over Wolves.

Son and Bergwijn are the only realistic alternatives to Kane in the leading role, but whoever replaces Nuno will need to quickly find a way to revitalise the England skipper.

The failure to not sign a back-up will not only have left the squad baffled, with that mistake now clearly hampering Spurs.