Harry Kane: Top-four finish not enough for Spurs, we should be winning trophies

Tottenham striker, who is out of contract next summer, says fans have every right to be frustrated after meek Champions League exit

Harry Kane and Tottenham were knocked out of the Champions League by AC Milan at the last-16 stage. Getty

Frustrated Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has said that finishing in the Premier League's top four is not enough and that the club should be winning trophies.

Spurs were knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage on Wednesday, when they lost 1-0 over two legs to Italian side AC Milan.

That came hot on the heels of a dismal FA Cup defeat to Championship side Sheffield United and a late loss at Wolves which saw Tottenham's grip on fourth place in the Premier League weakened.

The likelihood of manager Antonio Conte being in charge at the start of next season appears remote while the future of Kane – who has just become Spurs' all-time record goalscorer – is also now looking far from certain.

The 29-year-old England captain is out of contract next summer and has realistically one last chance to sign for an elite club in Europe that will guarantee him the chance to win regular trophies.

Asked whether a top-four finish is enough, he said: "I don't think so. Where we're at as a club, we should be winning trophies. That's always the aim.

"The top four [being our only target] is a consequence of not playing as well as we want to play. Now that's all we can fight for, so that's going to be the goal and hopefully we can achieve that come the end of the season.

"But for sure, it's not enough for this club.

Spurs 0 AC Milan 0: Player ratings

"Top four [alone] is not good enough for anyone at this club, especially the fans. They have the right to voice their opinion.

"The last week especially just hasn't been good enough. Before the Sheffield United game, the season could have been a whole lot different.

"You go through there, you take that momentum into the league game [at Wolves] and this game. But I feel like that loss last week put a dagger in our hearts and as you can see we haven't really recovered from that."

Conte is out of contract in the summer and both parties are currently unlikely to want to extend their partnership, which would leave Spurs looking for their fifth manager since November 2019.

"That's his decision, he's going to be the one that makes that choice," Kane added. "All we can do as players is try to perform for him, work as hard as we can.

"That's what we're doing. I said after the Wolves game at the weekend, you can't fault the effort of the players.

"We're trying, we're training but we're just lacking something. We've talked about mentality before and that ruthless hunger to be better, to be the best, to be one of the best teams in Europe. We just haven't quite found that yet."

Spurs are back in Premier League action on Saturday when they take on Nottingham Forest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They sit fourth in the table, one place and three points ahead of Liverpool but the Merseyside club have a game on hand.