Trophyless and frustrated, is it time Harry Kane starts thinking about moving on from Spurs?

There is a television interview with Harry Kane that is worth watching. Speaking to BBC’s Football Focus programme the Tottenham Hotspur striker talks of how far the club has come in the last five years under Mauricio Pochettino.

It sounds quite usual stuff but there is what looks like a telling response. “It doesn’t mean we stop there and be happy with what we’ve achieved, be happy with Champions League football and just be happy that we are competing at a high level,” Kane says in the show, broadcast in September, before adding: “We want to win, we want to turn the close margins into trophies and find a way to do it. There aren’t any excuses about being young any more or inexperienced or the stadium. It’s ultimately down to us to perform.”

Winning trophies. No excuses. Down to us. They have been themes for Kane in recent months. Following the frustrating Champions League draw against Olympiakos he commented “we’re still making similar mistakes” to the ones committed when Pochettino arrived. After the narrow defeat against Liverpool he was invited to say there had been progress. Instead he responded: “When you lose a game, it’s not a step forward.”

But almost as important as what Kane is saying is how he is saying it. Having interviewed Kane on several occasions for Telegraph Sport he looks – and it must be stressed this is only a personal opinion and observation – irritated. His body language appears a little different. He looks like a man who is concerned that Spurs might not, indeed, be moving forward any more.

To this observer contrast Kane with Spurs and Kane with England where he scored a hat-trick against Montenegro – in fact the last three of his 13 career hat-tricks have been for England - and another goal against Kosovo to take his total to 32 in 45 matches for his country. Records tumbled over the two games and Kane appeared more at ease; more himself away from the troubles at Tottenham where he returns for Saturday’s hugely important Premier League lunchtime kick-off away to West Ham United.

Astonishingly Spurs are down in 14th and desperately need a win. The future of Pochettino appears in the balance and Kane’s team-mate Danny Rose hinted at a wider discontent by revealing his determination to see through the final 18 months of his contract while, he said, the club is attempting to force him out. “I know what people were trying to do in the summer. There were no bids – that was rubbish,” Rose stated while on England duty.

On the pitch Kane is performing well with 10 goals in 15 appearances for Spurs and, remarkably, another 10 in six games for England. His contribution remains invaluable even if there seems to be a casual acceptance that he will score goals and lots of them.

But off the pitch he looks a little different and, it seems, speaks a little different. For a start Kane does not talk as much as he used to. He was always the one player win, lose or draw who would front up for Spurs. And when he has spoken it is an irritation that appears to come through. Of course it could be argued how else will he look and speak given the team has struggled?

There seems to be a general belief that Kane will remain at Spurs for the rest of his career, come what may. In fairness that is partly born from the fact that he has four more years left on a contract that he signed in June 2018 and which takes him up to almost his 31st birthday. He is and has been “one of our own” for Spurs since his breakthrough although is that song sung as regularly by the fans anymore?

It was interesting how eagerly Roy Keane was shot down by fellow pundits on Sky during a recent discussion on whether Manchester United needed another striker. “Go and get Kane from Spurs, it’s easy… What are you all staring at?” the former United captain said.

Of course it is not easy. Far from it. It may cost £200million and that is even if Kane wants to go to Old Trafford or Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is willing to negotiate with another English club. The last player Spurs sold to United was Dimitar Berbatov 11 years ago in a deal that angered Levy.

But with Spurs appearing to be in a period of transition and maybe requiring a re-build of the team could Kane generate the sums needed to replace Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen let alone the costs of new additions in other areas of the pitch? The focus may switch to the extraordinary sum Spurs could command for Kane - and that might prove attractive.

The parallel for Kane may well be Steven Gerrard who spent his entire career at Liverpool despite seeking to leave for Chelsea, before changing his mind, while Real Madrid and Inter Milan hoped he would try and force his way out. Gerrard was never going to do that and Kane would not too, even if he ever wanted to eventually quit Spurs.

But while Gerrard had Istanbul and winning the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005 – when the midfielder had just turned 25 – to sustain him Kane has already passed that age with Spurs having lost last season’s Champions League final. By then Gerrard had also won the FA Cup, League Cup and Uefa Cup and although he never won the Premier League there were more cups before he retired. Kane, who is 26, has won nothing.

That drive is there. When a player is younger it is what endears him to the fans – the standards he sets, the ambition he has. When he is a little older and coming into his prime it is what potentially raises the fear that he is not going to win the trophies he has dreamt of and would it be unreasonable to conclude that he might eventually have to look elsewhere before it is too late?