Manchester City make offer worth £100m for Harry Kane after striker told Tottenham he wants to leave this summer; City also open to including players in deal; Spurs expected to reject bid; Manchester United and Chelsea have also expressed an interest to sign the England captain
Manchester City have made a £100m bid for Tottenham striker Harry Kane.
City are open to including players in addition to the cash offer, but Tottenham are expected to reject the bid.
Sky Sports News exclusively reported last month that Kane had told Spurs he wanted to leave this summer with Man City, Manchester United and Chelsea interested.
The England captain is said to be fully focused on the Euros, with a decision on his club future not expected before the conclusion of the tournament.
Kane is valued at upwards of £120m and Tottenham are keen to keep him despite the 27-year-old believing he has a gentleman’s agreement with Daniel Levy.
Levy, who has appointed Juventus’ former football officer Fabio Paratici as the club’s new managing director of football, said earlier this month he sympathizes with Kane’s frustrations about the lack of silverware at Spurs, but hinted a deal could be difficult to do.
“All I will say is his frustrations in not winning are shared by me and all the fans and players. We all want to win,” Levy told the club’s official website.
“One of the items that Fabio will have to deal with when he comes in is which players are going to be retained, which will be asked to look for other clubs.
“There is a market out there. What we want and what other clubs want is not always possible to achieve. We will do whatever is right for the club.”
Levy confirmed Spurs will be active in the transfer market this summer, but was keen to restrict expectations about how much money they could spend.
Man City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, meanwhile, said after last month’s Champions League final that the club will be “competitive and aggressive” this summer, and are aiming to strengthen by bringing “quality to the squad in a couple of key positions”.
The Premier League champions’ priority is to replace Sergio Aguero, with Kane being considered along with Erling Haaland, Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez.
Man City begin their Premier League title defence by travelling to Tottenham on August 15, live on Sky Sports.
Kane insists that neither a lack of fitness nor speculation over his future at Tottenham have been the reasons for his disappointing start to Euro 2020.
Kane was substituted in England’s opening win over Croatia and their underwhelming 0-0 draw with Scotland following below-par performances in both games.
His displays have come as a surprise given he enjoyed an impressive season with Spurs, topping the Premier League charts for goals and assists, despite his club’s struggles.
And while he did sustain a couple of ankle injuries during the campaign, he returned from the most recent of those nearly two months ago, and was a regular for Spurs until the end of the season.
Kane won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup – a factor that has only added to expectations on him at Euro 2020 – and although he admits he became fatigued in Russia three years ago, he says that is not the problem this time around.
“Gareth [Southgate] is within his rights to make the changes he thinks are best for the team,” Kane told The Guardian when asked for his reaction to being replaced in both of England’s games so far.
“What we’ve learned over past tournaments is about trying to peak at the right time. The best time to be peaking is in the knockout stages and hopefully kick on from there.
“Maybe in Russia there were times, towards the quarter and semi-final, when I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be. In the end we didn’t get to where we wanted to go, maybe partly for that reason.
“It’s about managing the squad, making sure everyone is feeling as fit and sharp as possible. In my case, it was a tough couple of games and it’s about making sure I’m right for the rest of them.
“I didn’t have any issues. I didn’t feel physically I wasn’t up to it. I felt going into those games as good as I’ve felt all season, if I’m honest.”
Although Kane was one of the standout players in the Premier League during the 2020/21 season, Spurs endured a difficult campaign, finishing seventh in the table, without a trophy or a manager, having sacked Jose Mourinho in April.
The club was also rocked by the news that Kane had told them he wanted to leave this summer due to their failure to regularly compete for – and win – trophies.
Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea are all understood to be keen on signing the striker but, despite his future promising to be one of the main plotlines of this summer’s transfer window, Kane says it is not affecting his international performances.
“Absolutely not,” he insisted. “All my focus is on how I can help this team and how we can be successful in this tournament.
“I understand from a media point of view there is speculation, but I am fully focused on the job here.”