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Kane set for Tottenham talks on Monday, Santo confirms

Nuno Espirito Santo says he hopes to finally speak to Harry Kane on Monday, a week after the striker was due to report back to Tottenham.

Kane belatedly returned to Spurs on Saturday after delaying his return from holiday while he attempts to engineer a summer transfer to Manchester City.

The England captain has denied he refused to train and says he reported to Spurs this weekend “as planned”, while refusing to go into specifics over the reasons for his delay.

Kane must isolate for at least five days after holidaying in the Bahamas and Florida but he is spending quarantine at Tottenham’s Player Lodge on their Enfield training base and has already begun fitness work, Nuno said.

The pair are yet to speak since Nuno was named Spurs manager in June but the Portuguese says he hopes to hold in-person talks with Kane tomorrow.

“It’s true. Harry is with us,” Nuno said after Sunday’s friendly win over Arsenal.

“He has to quarantine, he’s in the Lodge but he’s training. He already made the first day with the sports science [team]. He’s with us. Good.

“We expect to integrate Harry when he follows all the protocols that we have to apply.

“The process of quarantine we have to be very strict on that and not take any type of chances. The pandemic is still there. We have to be really careful.

“I will speak with Harry as soon as possible because he’s already at the Lodge. Not today, today was the day of the match but we have a training session tomorrow. Social distanced, hopefully I will speak with Harry.”

In Kane’s absence, Spurs finished pre-season with an encouraging 1-0 win over their rivals in the Mind Series, clinched by Heung-min Son’s late strike.

New defender Cristian Romero was at White Hart Lane to watch his new teammates but Nuno cast doubt on the chances of the 23-year-old centre-half being involved in Sunday’s opening Premier League match against Manchester City.

“He’s a fantastic defender, he’s a very good player,” Nuno said of the Argentine, who has joined Spurs on a season-long loan from Atalanta with an option to make the deal permanent for £47million.

“He’s proven himself not only in the Serie A but with the national team of Argentine in the Copa America. We look at him, he analysed him in detail. He can help the team.

“He didn’t train yet with the group, he finished the Copa America in the last game with a problem which is much better now. We have to be very careful first, not take any chances. Like all the players. Gio [Lo Celso] for example didn’t have many sessions. Or Hugo [Lloris].

“We have to manage a lot of aspects until the moment we decide to put the player on the pitch. But he’s here, he looks good. When he starts training in a normal way, he will be an option.”

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Romero would become Spurs’ second most expensive signing of all time if he completes a permanent move next summer, behind Tanguy Ndombele who was again absent on Sunday.

The Frenchman is yet to feature in pre-season and Nuno explained: “Tanguy was not with us today. He’s not injured but we considered it’s not the moment for him to take part in the game.”

Spurs want to sign Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez and have made a bid thought to be in excess of £60million for the striker.

“I will not speak about any player,” Nuno said. “I will speak only about my players, Tottenham players, Spurs players. Nothing else.”

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