Bayern Munich believe they can sign Tottenham striker Harry Kane and are set to make a new offer to sign the England captain..
German newspaper Bild reported on Tuesday night that the 29-year-old had agreed personal terms with Bayern.
We have been here before of course.
Manchester United wanted him almost a decade ago, after that breakthrough 2014-15 season when Kane scored 31 times and questions were being asked about whether he was a one-season wonder.
They did not get him. Instead, Kane ended up signing new deals in 2016 and 2018 that confirmed his growing status in the game.
Famously, the latter contract had no get-out clause, so when United came back and Manchester City followed two summers ago, Tottenham said no. Even when he returned late for pre-season training in the summer of 2021, Kane went nowhere.
The big question is whether, finally, this is the summer when Kane moves on, whether Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy decides now is the time when the numbers add up and he lets his prize asset and his club’s record goalscorer, with 280 goals in 435 games, leave.
Stay home?
Manchester United would really like England’s all-time top scorer, with 58 strikes for his country, to sign for them this summer.
They are desperate for a striker and Kane is as near a guaranteed source of goals as you can get.
However, in preliminary talks, it soon became apparent the fee would be prohibitive, possibly as much as £100m.
United, operating on a restricted transfer budget as they tried to meet Financial Fair Play thresholds, backed off. When they signed Robin van Persie from Arsenal in 2012, it only cost them £24m. At the time, Van Persie only had a year left on his Arsenal deal.
United fans know the move was pivotal to them winning the Premier League in what turned out to be Sir Alex Ferguson’s final year in charge.
No such certainty exists this time with Manchester City now Treble winners. United would still like Kane but it is hard to imagine they will come back into the battle to sign him unless the price drops.
Or go abroad?
There is one pretty solid reason why Kane might think twice before going abroad.
He has scored 213 goals in 320 top-flight games and is currently 48 goals off breaking Alan Shearer’s record as the highest scorer in Premier League history.
That is less than two seasons if Kane has a decent year, three if he slips to the lowest level, two 17s and an 18, which represent three of his last five domestic campaigns.
Evidently, barring unexpected injury, Kane could have a spell abroad and still come home and usurp Shearer.
But it is more straightforward if he stays where he is.
The counter to that is Kane’s trophy cabinet is empty – and a couple of the most successful clubs in the game want him.
Real Madrid put him at the top of their list of potential replacements for Karim Benzema. But that was before Paris St-Germain indicated they might sell Kylian Mbappe, a long-time Real target, to resolve a contract wrangle that could see the France superstar leave for nothing in 2024.
And now Bayern have joined the chase.
Bayern, who have won the Bundesliga 11 times in a row, made the Champions League quarter-finals in most of those seasons and won the tournament twice as well as five German Cups.
For someone who has never won a thing, that glittering array of trophies must be attractive.
And there is one other benefit. It may not be obvious but it is worth considering.
In terms of the strain on his body, Germany is by far the best destination. An 18-team league, one domestic cup, a massive winter break.
For someone used to slogging his way through a 50-game season, that must sound good – and may prolong his coveted England career.
Stay at Spurs?
While the general feeling this summer again surrounds whether a deal can be done that persuades Levy to sell, there is also another scenario this time.
Having failed to secure a move at any other point during the six years of the contract he signed in 2018, three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner Kane might look at the situation in simple monetary terms.
In 12 months’ time, he can leave for nothing. In January 2024, he can sign pre-contract terms with any overseas club and there would be no fee.
Given even with only one year left, fees of between £50m and £80m are being spoken of, could Kane eventually conclude he can stay at Tottenham for one more season, adding to his Premier League goals tally at the same time, and then decide a path of his choosing when, presumably, a sizeable element of those projected transfer fees could go straight to him in a signing-on fee?
Previously, Levy has always been in charge of how the whole Kane future story plays out. This summer, he is not the only one in a position of strength.
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