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At the beginning of the season hardly anybody had heard of Harry Kane.

Fast forward nine months and the Tottenham striker has scored 23 goals, scored on his England senior team debut and won the PFA Young Player of the Year as well as being nominated for the Player of the Year but while most of the Premier League players are looking forward to having a rest and going on their summer holidays the 21-year-old could be set to carry on playing if he goes out to join the England U21 team at the European Championships in the Czech Republic.

Kane’s manager, Mauricio Pochettino, has already stated that he does not want the youngster to travel with the England team but he is not planning to stand in his way if he wants to go. The Englishman wants to go to the European Championship but the demands of his first full season in the Premier League are starting to take its toll.

As well as having to handle the physical strain of playing 50 games over four competitions there has been the mental strain that has come with being the new face everybody in the country knows about. Many at Tottenham are concerned that Kane could be trying to take on too much too young and the fears he could burn out seem to be genuine. Since scoring for England against Lithuania in March, Kane’s influence in games, for the London club, have dipped. While his work rate hasn’t decreased Spurs have only won one game since the International break and that was a 3-1 win in which Kane scored. It can hardly be a coincidence and further shows Kane’s importance to Tottenham.

It remains uncertain on how involved the 21-year-old will be in Spur’s post season tour but the reasons are staking up as to why Pochettino will be hoping Kane can get the summer off to recover and be ready to start again in August. The England boss, Roy Hodgson, has previously criticised the club for the possibility of taking Kane on the post-season tour to Australia worrying that by the end of the season he will be too worn out to play but the gaffer remains adamant that Kane should still play in the tournament for England. Speaking in March he said, “If he needs a rest, there’s a great opportunity when the season ends before our Under-21’s get to together.”

Whatever happens the final decision has to be down to Kane. Too much too quick could falter his future- look what happened when Theo Walcott was taken to play for England by Sven Goran Erikson. Kane wants to do everything at the moment but there needs to become a time when he needs to take a step back and rest for his own sake. Playing for England is an honour at any level but if it ruins the rest of your career that it is definitely not worth it.

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Kane is a star of the future we need to nurture him not exploit him.

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In the world of football, nothing ever stays the same. Players age, clubs decline and managers come and go. The beautiful game constantly moves forward, and unfortunately that means someone has to get left behind.

Newcastle are a club who’ve suffered problems to say the least this year. They’re arguably suffering from second season syndrome after finishing way above expectations in fifth at the end of their 2011/2012 Premier League campaign.

So perhaps it’s time to get rid of the deadwood, especially now that Alan Pardew is watching over somewhat of a French revolution at St. James’ Park, and the club brought in five new faces in the January transfer window.

Click on Cheick Tiote to see five suggestions for Newcastle players that have had their time, and should be sold for scrap in the summer

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As reported by The Daily Mirror, Tottenham Hotspur are interested in signing Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Ruben Neves this summer.

What’s the story?

It’s expected to be a busy transfer window for Mauricio Pochettino and Spurs this summer as they look to bring talent to the club that can help them make a more consistent bid to win the English Premier League next season.

One player on their radar is English Championship stand-out Ruben Neves, who inspired Wolverhampton Wanderers to promotion this season.

That’s according to The Mirror, who say Neves is one of three Portuguese internationals that Spurs are interested in signing.

Rated at £13.5m by Transfermarkt, does the midfielder have the ability to make the step up to a top six English side?

Is he good enough?

Neves has taken the Championship by storm this season, undoubtedly the best player in the league and showing enough ability that suggests he is more than capable of performing at a higher level.

The technical central midfield player has demonstrated he is adept at imposing himself on matches and dictating play for Wolves, having the confidence to dominate matches.

While that domination is less likely immediately at Spurs, he deserves the chance to show what he can do at a bigger side, especially under a manager like Mauricio Pochettino who can bring his game on further.

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Still just 21 years of age and having already won senior caps with Portugual, his potential is huge and Tottenham shouldn’t sleep on trying to sign him before others get involved.

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As the season edges towards its conclusion and the competitions around the world are coming to their end it is the time where individual honours are considered. In the Premier league, the list for Player of the Season is an exhaustive one and picking a winner is a decisive topic.

For all of Hazard’s scintillating performances for Chelsea and Harry Kane’s heroics at The Lane, it is another player plying his trade in London who should be picking up the end of season prize.

Back in July 2014, when Arsene Wenger finally persuaded Stan Kroenke to delve £35m deep into his pockets, Alexis Sanchez was secured from Barcelona. On the back of a superb World Cup and his most prolific season to date at Barcelona, The Gunners had undoubtedly acquired one of the best talents on the planet.

It was a signing which some expected would help to catapult Arsenal to their first title in over a decade. In that respect some could argue his signature has failed to live up to expectations. But that would be taking an extremely harsh viewpoint on the Chilean’s first campaign in England.

Without the winger’s startlingly impressive early season form, Arsenal would have already faded into the kind of irrelevance their last opponents, Liverpool, now find themselves in. 13 goals in an 18 game spell between October and January kept his side in touch with the early front runners when few of his teammates seemed to have the ability or fight to do likewise.

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As can be expected the Chilean’s white hot early season form was to cool. But his performances allowed his teammates to warm to the task.

In only eight months he has become a talismanic figure at The Emirates: a leader on the pitch. The only player whose performances have had such a significant impact on their team is Harry Kane at Tottenham but Sanchez has inspired others; he has led his colleagues to a level that they have rarely reached in their careers.

Mesut Ozil is beginning to flourish, at first independent of Sanchez and maybe even to the detriment of the Chilean. But the duo’s combined performance against Liverpool was enough to strike fear into the heart of every other team in the country.

Sanchez’s first season in England may end without a league trophy but his individual performances have helped to spur his side on, potentially to an FA Cup win and probably to their highest placed League finish in years.

Where you have to feel Kane is peaking in his duties at White Hart Lane, you feel the former Barcelona man still has so much more to offer. He has galvanised a side who felt they could not contend with the big boys anymore and rid them of their inferiority complex.

With one of the very best players in the world they no longer feel fear.

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His first year in England has seen him achieve so much and his adaptation to life in English football has been rapid. He has instantly become one of the best players in the nation’s game having had almost no settling period.

Sanchez has simply been the best player in the supposed best league that the world has to offer.

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transfer target Loic Remy has come in for criticism from his boss at current club Marseille.

Magpies boss Alan Pardew has been hoping to sign the striker during the January transfer window after the departure of their leading goal scorer Demba Ba to Chelsea last week.

Remy, also linked with QPR this month, has scored 28 goals in 53 starts for the Ligue 1 giants since joining in 2010 from Nice.

But he has struggled this season finding the net just three times in 19 appearances and he remains without a goal since November.

And Marseille coach Elie Baup has questioned Remy’s form, and suggested the France international may stay at the club until the summer.

In an interview with Mirror Football, he said of his forward, “He seeks primarily to regain his touch. The physical side, he has found. He must now partner that with the co-ordination of movements and feeling of the game.

“For a year, every transfer window, we have been talking about his departure. But he is still there – maybe he still will be in the summer.

“As this is the third transfer window where we are talking about his departure, he is not focusing on it.”

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Remy, 26, is in Morocco at a training camp this week, while Newcastle have officials in France trying to wrap up a deal. QPR boss Harry Redknapp is also thought to be keen on a striker he also targetted last season when he was Tottenham boss.

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Dele Alli has transformed into a Premier League regular and fully fledged England international over the last few years at Tottenham Hotspur, but he is not liked by all.

The midfielder has come under fire from rival supporters this season for his frequent play-acting on the pitch.

On a handful of occasions this season, the former MK Dons player has been booked for diving, some of which have been committed in a bid to win his side a penalty.

Questions have been raised this season over Alli’s form, which has dipped, but he has appeared to shut down the critics for now having scored twice and created an assist in his last two outings.

The furore surrounding Tottenham at the moment is related to Harry Kane and the goal that he believes should have been awarded to him against Stoke City last weekend.

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Spurs won the contest 2-1, with both goals being credited to Christian Eriksen, but according to BBC Sport the North London outfit will launch an appeal to give the winning goal to Kane, who claims that he got a touch on the ball before it hit the back of the net.

Today, Spurs posted a tweet of well-wishes to Alli on his 22nd birthday, but it swiftly got hijacked.

Manchester United have today confirmed that young duo Tyler Blackett and Reece James have signed new contracts at the club.

Blackett, 20, was handed his United debut by Louis Van Gaal on the opening day of this season and has since made a further nine Premier League appearances.

The young defender has signed a contract extension that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2017, with an option of a further year.

Blackett told United’s official website: “I’m thrilled to have signed my new contract.

“I have supported United all my life and have been here since I was eight years old. To come through the Academy and make my debut this season was a dream come true.

“I want to keep improving within the first-team squad with the help of the manager, coaches and the players around me.”

Meanwhile, Reece James has also put pen-to-paper on a contract extension. The left-back made his United first-team debut in the humiliating 4-0 Capital One Cup defeat to Milton Keynes Dons earlier this season.

But it appears the United faithful aren’t overly excited about two of their academy products signing for an extended period, with some even suggesting van Gaal is prioritising deals for the wrong players…

Although we’re not exactly surprised with that reaction…

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Swansea City manager Michael Laudrup has not ruled out the chance of signing Stoke City striker Kenwyne Jones in the January transfer window.

It was reported that the Swans made a £3million approach for the 28 year old Trinidadian this week but that was instantly dismissed by Tony Pulis and Stoke.

Laudrup is keen to sign another striker after the South Wales club received two very generous bids for Danny Graham from Norwich and Sunderland over the past few days and one of those deals could be very much on.

Graham has failed to nail down a starting spot this season after the summer signing of Michu but Laudrup will want to add to his squad before allowing the North East born forward to leave.

Jones is set to start for Stoke against the Swans today and so Laudrup didn’t feel it was the best time to speak about his transfer talks.

“He (Jones) will probably play. Maybe if he can play with us it can be 12 against 10 but I don’t think that will happen,” Laudrup told Sky Sports.

“Let’s just say it is not the proper time to talk about a player when he is playing against us in around 24 hours time.

“Let’s hope tomorrow he does not have too good a day as it is better for us.”

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The fact that Toby Alderweireld was not in the Tottenham Hotspur squad for Sunday’s Premier League clash against Chelsea spoke volumes.

Mauricio Pochettino’s notion that Alderweireld is not fit is now not reliable due to the fact that the centre-back turned out for Belgium during the recent international break.

The 29-year-old was outstanding for Spurs last season, but it is understood that he is refusing to sign a new contract, which has led to a host of speculation surrounding his future.

Alderweireld has not actually turned out for Tottenham in the Premier League since the end of October, although a hamstring problem kept him on the sidelines for a considerable amount of time.

A tweet from the defender’s social media account cropped up following Tottenham’s 3-1 win over Chelsea on Sunday, and a number of the Spurs supporters reacted in the same way.

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It appears almost certain that the former Ajax youngster, who is valued at £36m by transfermarkt.co.uk, will be leaving Pochettino’s side in this summer’s transfer window.

A selection of the Twitter reaction can be seen below:

If anyone had said that Southampton vs. West Ham in February would have top connotations they may well have been carted off for some serious psychological examinations… but, alas, the two sides are now set to embark on a ‘six pointer’, which may have a massive impact on the table in a few months’ time.

Southampton currently occupy third, but with the chasing pack of Man United, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool all closing in, wins are essential, while West Ham are in desperate need of points to keep pace after slipping to eighth. So what factors may decide this one…

West Ham’s ‘bouncebackability’

Since the turn of the year to 2015 West Ham’s top four push has stalled. The Hammers’ impressive results seem to be drying up, and the pressure is now really on following the loss to rivals Liverpool and the draw with Manchester United. Another defeat will leave them eight points adrift of the fabled spots, and with the likes of Spurs, Liverpool and Arsenal all resurgent, the gap may be too large to bridge.

Southampton’s defensive record

With just 17 balls having hit the Saints’ net, Ronald Koeman’ side are, by far, the best team defensively in the Premier League. But their rearguard will be a little patched up tonight, with Ryan Bertrand’s suspension added to Toby Alderweireld’s injury absence. Matt Targett may step in, but even he has some fitness issues, which will put a lot of pressure on the South Coast side.

Southampton’s ability to score

While goals have not been coming at the wrong end, they have also been a relatively rare occurrence in the final third. The Saints are the lowest scorers in the top six with 38, and Graziano Pelle’s early season form appears to have slipped a little of late. Southampton have also hit the post more times than any side in the league (14), of which six have been courtesy of Pelle.

Travelsick Hammers…

With just one win in their last seven trips away from east London, a journey down to St Mary’s is not likely to have been one Allardyce has been relishing. The Hammers have been imperious at Upton Park, but their high tempo, physical approach has not been so present outside of the capital, which has been an issue. However, they can take some solace from the fact Southampton have won only two of their last six home games.

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Cheikhou Kouyate

The big Senegalese star has been impressive since moving to West Ham from Anderlecht, with his power in midfield alongside Alex Song having formed a solid bedrock at the Boleyn Ground. But, with injuries an issue he’s been moved into a centre-back berth, in which he again shone against Man United. Can he maintain that form? Or will his rustiness – he has played at CB in the past – be an issue?