Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris could be encouraged to leave Tottenham over pay gap as striker targets £120k-per-week salary to drag him level with Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy

• Tottenham are trying to tie their top players down to long-term deals
• Negotiations with Harry Kane broke down almost as soon as they started
• The striker is being paid £60,000 per week but wants around double that 
• Premier League's top scorer is after similar pay packet as Daniel Sturridge
• Hugo Lloris has under three years left on deal and is stalling over extension

Tottenham will risk losing Harry Kane and Hugo Lloris if they refuse to improve the existing wage structure to accommodate their two biggest stars.

Kane wants pay parity with fellow England strikers Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge who earn in the region of £120,000 a week but initial contract talks ended as soon as it became clear Spurs were not prepared to launch him into their top pay bracket.

Lloris, already the club's top-earner on £90,000 a week, is stalling on a new deal, aware he can demand much more on the open market as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. 

Chairman Daniel Levy must solve this crucial puzzle at the heart of the team's development while under the financial pressures of completing a new £750million stadium.

Levy's policy towards contract extensions has always been underpinned by his shrewd technique of granting incremental pay rises to improving players while adding another year or two to the deal.

Tottenham have proudly announced new contracts since the end of last season for England internationals Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Danny Rose and Kyle Walker.

Christian Eriksen, having stalled for a year following interest from Juventus which was flatly rejected by Levy last summer, has signed a new deal worth £70,000 a week.

Erik Lamela and Jan Vertonghen are close to following suit.

While there is no great rush to tie them down Levy would like to extend the deals for Kane and Lloris.

One is the talismanic home-grown goal hero and the other the captain and thoughtful dressing room leader. Lloris has less than three years left on his current deal, Kane has three and a half.

Yet neither player believes their status is being reflected in the sort of money Spurs are willing to discuss.   

Kane was the top scorer in the Premier League last season with 25 goals and at 23 years old he is paid around £60,000 a week.

Vardy's new deal at Leicester, signed in the summer amid transfer interest from Arsenal, is worth up to £120,000 a week. Sturridge is on a similar figure at Liverpool. Theo Walcott earns £140,000 a week at Arsenal.

Sergio Aguero and Eden Hazard among the highest-paid footballers in the country can command more than £200,000 a week.

Kane is not demanding to be one of the top-paid players in the Premier League but he does expect to be valued like his fellow England strikers Vardy and Sturridge.

Tottenham wanted to open talks at a rate below the £90,000-a-week paid to Lloris.

Kane has no burning desire to leave but if no agreement can be reached there will inevitably be transfer interest. 

In the modern era, when the big money starts to talk, Spurs have found it impossible to keep their very best players from Gareth Bale and Luka Modric back to Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov.

Kane has figured prominently on the wish-list at Manchester United and Chelsea since bursting onto the Premier League scene. Spurs could demand an enormous fee for a player they produced from their academy, although the task of finding a replacement would be daunting.

Michy Batshuayi was ready to sign for Spurs from Marseille in the summer with a fee agreed but the terms on offer at White Hart Lane were swamped by the contract Chelsea were prepared to pay the Belgium striker.

Batshuayi preferred to sign for a team not in the Champions League and where he was resigned to starting most games on the bench because the financial package was more attractive.

Tottenham turned instead to Vincent Janssen who was cheaper than Batshuayi but who found it hard to produce goals when Kane was ruled out for seven weeks with an ankle injury.

Kane remains committed to Spurs but he stands in a strong position and is not going to be hurried into extending his deal if it does not promote him onto the pay scale where he believes he belongs.