Tottenham challenged to resist Real Madrid interest in prolific striker Harry Kane

Darren Anderton believes that Harry Kane will want to continue to progress to greater heights with Tottenham Hotspur, but thinks the prolific striker would find it very difficult to reject a potential switch to Real Madrid should such an opportunity present itself.

Kane has continued to go from strength to strength in 2017, with his 43 goals in 37 appearances for club and country earning him a place alongside the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar on the 30-man shortlist for the prestigious Ballon d'Or award.

Quickly banishing the frustrations associated with another curious August drought, the 24-year-old netted 15 times in September alone.

He also further cemented his status as arguably the favourite to be named as the next permanent England captain by donning the armband for the third time under Gareth Southgate and rescuing narrow victories over Slovenia and Lithuania.

Such a remarkable scoring run has rekindled speculation linking Kane with a lucrative move to Real Madrid, with Marca recently reporting that both the forward and teammate Dele Alli feature on a shortlist of prospective new 'Galacticos'.

The latest highly dubious speculation from Spain suggests that Los Blancos are willing to offer three key players - former Tottenham faovurites Gareth Bale and Luka Modric plus experienced striker Karim Benzema - in part-exchange in an attempt to reduce the former's predictably sky-high asking price.

Although Kane, who signed a new six-and-a-half year contract in December 2016 on wages of approximately £100,000-a-week ($131,943) insists that he is happy at Tottenham, he recently admitted for the first time that he could not rule out the possibility of playing elsewhere in Europe in the future.

And while Anderton believes that the player will still want to achieve more with his current club as they prepare to embark upon life in a brand new stadium, he also claims that Spurs' resolve in the face of yet more interest from Real Madrid in one of their most indispensable talents will likely prove the deciding factor.

"You hope he's Tottenham through and through," he told Press Association Sport, per talkSPORT. "The way he plays and the way he acts, it certainly looks like he's happy where he is and hopefully he doesn't forget that. I think he'll want to complete his journey at Tottenham. He'll want to play in that new stadium and he'll want to be part of the Tottenham team that wins the league.

"But the club have got to go with him on that. If the offer comes in from say Real Madrid, it will be up to Spurs to turn it down. If you look at his age, his talent, the way he is, he's got to be worth around £150m, even £200m now.

"If they say yes, Harry will get the chance to speak to them and I'm sure if he walks into the Bernabeu with an opportunity to sign, he'd find it very difficult not to. And would you blame him? You couldn't, absolutely not."