Tottenham boss Antonio Conte hits out at Bayern 'disrespect' over public courting of Harry Kane

Antonio Conte has hit out at Bayern Munich’s “disrespect” after the German champions went public with their admiration for Tottenham striker Harry Kane.

Reports in Germany had claimed Bayern were looking at Kane before Julian Nagelsmann poured fuel on the fire by hailing Kane as a “brilliant player”, adding: “He could score a lot in the Bundesliga.”

Conte, who saw Kane score twice on Saturday to secure a 2-1 comeback win at Rangers, was not impressed. “I’m a coach who doesn’t talk about players from other teams,” he said after the game.

“The situation at Tottenham is very clear. The plan is very clear with the club. Harry is a part of the project. He is a very important part of the project.

“At the same time, I repeat, I don’t like to speak about players from another club. If I want to do something I go to speak to the club, not through the media. I think maybe it’s a bit disrespectful for the other club. This is my way. This is my way to face the situation with other players.”

Kane’s double in the win at Ibrox maintained his perfect start to pre-season, scoring in all three of Tottenham’s friendlies.
Conte had further reason to cheer with all six of his summer signings - Djed Spence, Clement Lenglet, Fraser Forster, Yves Bissouma, Richarlison and Ivan Perisic - featuring in Glasgow.

Richarlison, the former Everton and Watford forward, arrives with plenty of experience in England yet question marks over his fee and a relative inexperience among Europe’s elite. Conte, though, insists he is the ideal signing to compete with Kane and Son Heung-min. “Richy for sure is a player that we signed to improve the quality of the squad and to rotate without dropping the level. If you want to compete as a team then the squad has to be 16, 17, 18 able to keep the same level, not be up and then down. We have just started the improvement.

“The most important thing is that the impact has to be terrific for the opponent and for us. We worked on this aspect with the club but you know that we've just started this process to try to bring and improve step by step.”

Brentford suffered a chastening end to their tour of Germany with a 4-0 defeat at Wolfsburg. The west London side conceded three goals from set-pieces and Thomas Frank knows there is work to do when they return to the capital.

“It’s something we’ve been discussing,” he said. “We know we need to be really good at it, we are normally much better at it but today we weren’t up to those standards.”

Brighton manager Graham Potter admitted he “has to be active” in the transfer window but insisted he is focused on improving his current squad after a 2-1 win at Reading.

The south coast side lost Yves Bissouma to Tottenham with Paraguay teenager Julio Enciso the most notable arrival so far.

“I said before that while the window’s open you have to be active, everybody does, but my job is always to help the guys who are here,” Potter said after goals from Pascal Gross and Solly March secured victory in Berkshire.

“You can see they are trying to do the things we are asking them to do. The collective effort is really there and gives you something to work with.”