Mauricio Pochettino plays down Roy Keane comments on Harry Kane

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has brushed off Roy Keane’s claims that Manchester United should sign Harry Kane.

Keane, working as a pundit on Sky Sports, said it would be “easy” for United to bring the striker to Old Trafford in a bid to cure their problems in front of goal.

How easy it would actually be is open for debate, given Kane’s lengthy contract at Spurs and even bigger price tag, but Pochettino respects Keane’s opinion.

“I heard the comment,” he said. “Of course I respect him and admired him when he was a player.

“He was the kind of player who you want beside you, or as a centre-back like me you want him in front of you.

“Whenever I listen to him he is very clinical in his comments.

“Of course he loves good players and Harry Kane is a fantastic player. We more than agree Harry Kane deserves everything.”

Kane will be a key player as Tottenham head to Liverpool on Sunday hoping to see further green shoots of recovery after a dismal start to the season.

Having beaten Red Star Belgrade 5-0 in the Champions League in midweek, they perhaps would have liked a kinder fixture than a trip to the league leaders.

Pochettino, though, is in bullish mood.

“We are not different from anyone else,” he said. “We will go there thinking the same, that we can beat them.

“We respect them because they’re showing great quality and good performance and great results.

“It’s going to be difficult but our mentality is the same, we will go there thinking we can beat them.

“We know each other because we play a lot of games, then it’s having a good game and doing what we plan to do.

“In football that is the key, then in 90 minutes if you show better quality than the opponent and you share some luck in your side.

“We can talk about their strengths and of course unbelievable players and a great coach. I admire Jurgen (Klopp) a lot.

“But at the end, likely always, it is 90 minutes of football and we hope we can perform the way we want and be close to win.”