If you think Harry Kane is destined to leave Tottenham Hotspur for Manchester United this summer, think again.
It seems like an obvious decision for both Kane and United. Kane approaches his 30th birthday in July, still waiting to win his first major trophy, while United have made the proven scorer their summer No. Premier League.
– Broadcasts on Sportzshala+: La Liga, Bundesliga and more (USA)
Kane and United seem like the perfect match, but sources told Sportzshala that the prospect of dealing with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy to negotiate a deal for the England captain has left United focusing on alternative options, including Napoli’s Victor Osimhen ”and the Juventus striker. Dusan Vlahovich. Despite Kane ending the last 12 months of his Spurs contract this summer, a source told Sportzshala that United would not risk a pursuit for Kane that would drag on into the closing hours of the summer transfer window.
United cannot afford to start the season without a new striker, the source said. “And having dealt with Levy in the past, they don’t want to go through that nightmare again for Kane with so much at stake, so they can’t even get involved.”
However, Levy’s reputation as a formidable negotiator has two sides. Clubs trying to sign Spurs players find Levi, 61, the longest-serving Premier League chairman having been appointed in 2001, to be stubborn and difficult. But to his employers, he is the man who resisted Manchester City’s attempts to sign Kane in 2021, achieved an £85m world record for Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale in 2013 and forced United to break their own transfer record for £30.75. m for Dimitar Berbatov in 2008.
After signing the Bulgarian striker just minutes before the deadline, the former United boss told Sportzshala that manager Sir Alex Ferguson and chief executive David Gill vowed never to deal with Levy again – a pact they kept until they both left retire five years later.
“Daniel decided he wouldn’t do a deal unless the fee started at three,” the former executive said. “Months of negotiation came down to the last minutes of the window and Sir Alex and David Gill never forgot it.”
Fast forward 15 years to the summer of 2023 and United will face the same scenario if they call Kane the solution to the team’s goalscoring problems. Only Marcus Rashford, with 14 goals this season, has scored in double figures in the Premier League; Bruno Fernandes is next with five goals.
Since the signing of Robin van Persie from Arsenal in 2012, United have consistently failed to solve the problem of the centre-forward. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored goals but were in their 30s when they arrived, while Radamel Falcao, Edinson Cavani, Odion Ighalo and Wout Weghorst were nothing more than sticky signings with varying degrees of success. Romelu Lukaku was expected to be the answer when he signed for Everton in 2017, but he left two years later after failing to justify his initial £75m transfer fee.
If Kane joins United, he will be 30 years old before he even kicks the ball for the club. But Van Persie was the same age at 29, and the attraction of signing the Spurs forward is that he could be the catalyst for a title fight, as Van Persie did. But Levy knows United are desperate for a striker, so it’s inconceivable that he would choose not to exploit their weakness by demanding a huge fee for Kane – a fee that United are unlikely to pay due to Kane’s age, contract situation and the club. . fight for compliance with financial fair play (FFP) rules.
If the player himself forced the situation by announcing his desire to leave, it could open the door for a move, but United simply cannot wait until the end of the summer before signing a striker.
At the center of this is Kane, a player who has rendered an incredible service to Tottenham and remained loyal to the club for much longer than many of his contemporaries would likely have been. This season, he broke Tottenham’s record of 266 goals scored. But he’s seen smaller players at rival clubs win plenty of trophies elsewhere and he’s a player whose career deserves a silver lining. His dilemma is clear: stay with the Spurs and try to win that trophy, force a move, or terminate his contract and leave as a free agent in 2024.
There would be no guarantee of success at United, but despite the club’s struggles over the past decade, Kane’s England teammate Rashford has won four major trophies since joining the team in 2016. He could win two more this season and United are still chasing the FA. Cup and Europa League, having already won the Carabao Cup.
Some clubs find a way to win; others never seem to be able to cross the finish line first. The Spurs ended up last despite Kane being so consistent in scoring goals.
Bayern Munich, who have yet to replace Robert Lewandowski, have had a longstanding interest in Kane, while his pedigree has always attracted the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. But all of those clubs are more likely next year when he becomes a free agent than in the summer when Spurs could demand more than £100m for their star player. Playing abroad would also rob Kane of a chance to break Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of 260 goals – Kane now has 203 goals from a brace in Saturday’s 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest.
If Kane decides to force a move this summer, United will obviously be his first target. But both Kane and United know that Levy will make it extremely difficult and potentially impossible. Something, somewhere, has to give, but it won’t be Daniel Levy.
Source: www.espn.com
