Sean Dyche reveals he tried to sign ‘top fella’ Harry Kane for Burnley when he was a youngster.

Sean Dyche could have told Harry Kane a decade ago it would be difficult for him to get out of Tottenham.

Dyche, whose Everton side have to stop Kane at Goodison on Monday night, failed in a bid to sign the future England captain at Burnley in 2013 after he’d had mixed loan spells at Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester.

He even went as far as doing background checks on the 19-year-old but couldn’t agree a deal with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

Since then, Kane has become Tottenham and England’s record goalscorer and is closing in on Alan Shearer’s Premier League mark. But he is still waiting for his first trophy and was unable to move to Manchester City two years ago when Levy slapped on a £150million price tag.

‘Years ago, I tried to sign him at Burnley but financially it was too much,’ revealed Dyche.

The Everton boss claimed he knew that Kane would be special, but so did Tottenham

Kane had mixed success during loan spells at the likes of Leicester (left) and Norwich (right)

‘Harry had been on loan at Norwich and Leicester. Maybe those moves hadn’t gone as well as he’d wanted but I knew a few of the lads at Millwall who knew Harry from his spell there.

‘Millwall is a tough place to play, especially for a young footballer, but I was told he’d handled it pretty well.

‘I’d hoped Spurs would let us have him. But by then they had seen what he could do – and the rest is history.

‘We made a phone call but although Burnley were in the Premier League, the numbers were just too big for us.

‘The timing was wrong. It wasn’t just me who was interested. I was hoping we could be a stepping stone but Tottenham made a great decision.’

Dyche was in charge of Burnley between 2012 and 2022 and oversaw plenty of change at the club

Would Kane have been tempted by Turf Moor? At the time, Dyche seems to think it wasn’t impossible.

‘I think he was impatient, that he went to Norwich and Leicester thinking “I’m going to do well here,” he explained.

‘Harry doesn’t lack belief but sometimes when your career isn’t quite where you want it to be, you have to hang onto your professionalism.

‘Harry never wavered. Sometimes the quieter loans, the ones that don’t go as well as you’d expected, are the ones you get the most out of.

‘You learn from that and know what you’ve got to do. He would get his head down, work harder and do the right things on the training ground.’

Kane ahs gone onto become the highest-ever goal scorer for both Tottenham and England

He shone once again for England in the international break and has also impressed at club level

Kane’s 21 league goals this season is only one fewer than Everton have managed in total. Though he failed to land his target, Dyche’s respect for the striker has grown, both on and off the field.

‘A few years later, I saw him on holiday in Portugal with his family and we struck up a bit of a rapport, just chatting with him,’ he said.

‘He has been very generous giving me a few shirts for charities that I back. You just get a feel for people, whether they are footballers or not. Harry is a top player but also a top fella and person.’

Dyche has won three of his four home games at Everton – all 1-0 – and still needs points with his side in the relegation dogfight.

Instead of facing Antonio Conte in the technical area, he’ll come up against Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason with Conte departing during the international break following an angry outburst aimed at his players following a 3-3 draw at Southampton.

‘Like most people, I was surprised because Conte is a well-travelled, established top manager, but there must have been a reason he said what he did,’ added Dyche.

Dyche admitted he was surprised to see Antonio Conte leave Tottenham last week

But he has to focus on his own side, who need more points if they are to avoid relegation

‘Whether there are things going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about remains to be seen. But football is a very emotional sport and he might have just let himself explode.

‘Do you remember the Kevin Keegan one? Sometimes this game just hits you and you think ‘I’m going to say exactly how I see it’.”

‘People have said to me it was strange. Other people have said it was refreshing. I’ve taken the view there must have been some reason or it was just an outburst in the moment.

‘We’ve all been tempted to do it – but mostly you don’t. Spurs are still a really good outfit, so you have to wonder what tipped the balance.’