Should Tottenham Sell Harry Kane and Rebuild the Team?

Harry Kane's first season as Tottenham's star man was almost beyond belief.

The too-good-to-be-true moments just kept on rolling. They have been oft-recounted since the end of the season, but they still bear repeating.

From the match-winning free-kick against Aston Villa (the one with the ridiculous deflection) to a hat-trick and a stint in goal in the same match to the huge moments including derby winners, a perfect England debut and goal No. 30 against Newcastle, Kane enjoyed a nine-month-long dream.

That astonishing campaign has predictably drawn the predatory gaze of Europe's biggest clubs.

Real Madrid's reported interest, per MailOnline's Pete Jenson, is unlikely to culminate in an actual bid this season.

Their experience negotiating with Spurs over Luka Modric and Gareth Bale will ensure Los Blancos baulk at trying to talk Daniel Levy into selling a superstar 21-year-old with five-and-a-half years left on his contract.

Manchester United's interest is likely more concrete.

The Daily Mail's Matt Lawton and Mike Keegan reported in May that Louis van Gaal had identified Kane as a star on the rise (possibly by watching Match of the Day).

As Madrid has made a habit of squeezing Spurs of their best players, so too have United.

Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick and Teddy Sheringham all followed the M1 north to join the red half of Manchester.

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

United are also in a rebuilding phase, and talkSPORT suggests they are likely to lose Robin van Persie this summer. The combination of these facts makes United's interest in Kane more believable.

The question facing Spurs, with potential bids in excess of £50 million for Kane, is whether they should allow history to repeat and sell him to the highest bidder.

The very question will exact vitriol from the fans, but it is at least worthy of consideration.

Oddschecker lists odds of 8-1 that Kane will make the move to Old Trafford during the summer.

The sale of Kane would bring in a significant transfer fee. This factor is of questionable importance given that the club has not registered a net spend since the summer of 2010, and the Premier League's broadcast deals continue to swell the coffers. It is, though, the usual motivating factor for a selling club.

Spurs have a chequered history when it comes to significant cash windfalls.

The Carrick money funded, among other things, a move for Didier Zokora, who failed to amount to much at the club before moving to Spain after three years and 134 goalless appearances.

The sale of both Berbatov and Robbie Keane facilitated the acquisition of such Tottenham legends as Roman Pavlyuchenko, Giovani dos Santos and David Bentley.

Modric's move to Madrid brought in £33 million, which was spread out over a number of solid players like Moussa Dembele, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Clint Dempsey.

None of those were direct replacements and none could be considered failures or fantastic successes. Two of those three are no longer at the club.

The disappointment of the so-called 'magnificent seven' purchased with the immense Bale bonanza has been well documented. Suffice it to say they haven't upset Spurs' middling track record with major transfers.

The history runs against Spurs turning a potential Kane transfer fee into several stars of comparable quality. Without that motivation for a sale, it becomes difficult to see Spurs deciding to sell him.

The same may have been said at this point in the summer of 2013 about Bale.

Coming off an equally brilliant season, Bale was at the centre of the club's promotional material for the new season and featured in the new Spurs shirt on the cover of FIFA 14 and a Times Square advertising campaign for NBC's Premier League coverage.

He was plastered across London in that same shirt as the face of BT Sport's new Premier League television rights. There seemed no way he could leave, but leave he did.

His insistence on making the move appears now to have been a vital factor. Could Kane go the same way?

Kane himself has rejected the idea of leaving Spurs this summer. He told a gaggle of reporters at a video game launch event that "Obviously I have seen the interest, but I am happy at Spurs and I look forward to the future with Spurs."

He went further, specifically ruling out chasing a move to a "big club" and telling the gathered journalists, "Tottenham are a big club and that's the way people have got to see it. I'm at a big club now and enjoying my football looking forward to next season."

A key difference between Bale and Kane is that the Welshman made a big-money move to Tottenham from Southampton.

Saints were the club of his youth, while Cardiff City may be his boyhood club.

Bale may have grown to love Spurs while playing for them and certainly developed a relationship with the fans, but his departure understandable. Just as he saw a chance for professional growth in moving to Spurs, he saw the same when Real came calling.

Kane is not an expensive transplant from elsewhere. He joined Tottenham as an 11-year-old and has progressed through the ranks.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

He is connected to the club in a way that few others could be.

As beloved as any Tottenham player in the last 20 years, besides perhaps Ledley King, his relationship with the fans is truly remarkable.

There is little chance that Kane will put his foot down and demand a transfer this summer.

According to ESPN FC, the club will not be considering any bids for him.

Their history in the transfer window suggests they would be incapable of making good use of a large fee in any case.

There is no desperation on the part of the club (who are flushed with funds) or the player (who is evidently satisfied with being at Spurs) to make this move happen, and for those reasons, it would be madness to give any more time to the idea.