Harry Kane

[Mr Pink]

Id rather we sold now (as much as it breaks our hearts) and let him go abroad....providing we get a massive sum.

Just can't bear to see him at United.

And we might as well get on with the rebuild now.

Of course I'd prefer to keep him and boost our chances of top 4 but if we get a mega offer from abroad it should be considered now.

 

[Timberwolf]

My main concern with us selling Kane is the fear that it fucks over Ange's project right from the start.

Fans expectations are high and the combination of a massive change in playstyle and the loss of our talisman, top scorer and club legend, could make for a very difficult transition indeed. I worry that Ange might have a bad start and Levy won't have the patience to stick with him.

I think with Kane in the team, as proven by last season, it's very hard to finish below about 8th and would at least buy Ange some time, while also giving us an outside shot at finishing top 4/a trophy given how fucking good Kane is.

If we do decide to just rip the plaster off now and sell Kane to invest in the squad we need to be really patient both at boardroom and fan level because things could get ugly before they improve.

 

[robotsonic]

70 million euros and throw in Mane.

Mane is looking finished and even older than Kane. Hard pass on him as a makeweight or any other way.

 

[lobob8]

FWIW Paul O'Keefe is echoing Trix, doesn't think Levy will budge.

 

[HildoSpur]

My main concern with us selling Kane is the fear that it fucks over Ange's project right from the start.

Fans expectations are high and the combination of a massive change in playstyle and the loss of our talisman, top scorer and club legend, could make for a very difficult transition indeed. I worry that Ange might have a bad start and Levy won't have the patience to stick with him.

I think with Kane in the team, as proven by last season, it's very hard to finish below about 8th and would at least buy Ange some time, while also giving us an outside shot at finishing top 4/a trophy given how fucking good Kane is.

If we do decide to just rip the plaster off now and sell Kane we need to be really patient both at boardroom and fan level because things could get ugly before they improve.

If anything us losing Kane now would temper expectations of fans a bit I think. Might actually be a positive thing for a new manager.

 

[Mr Pink]

Mane is looking finished and even older than Kane. Hard pass on him as a makeweight or any other way.

Might not of ever settled in Germany.

 

[TheWook]

But the biggest hurdle would be him signing a new contract and honestly time is running out. It’s make or break this summer.

Have we even offered him one?

 

[Joshua shepherd]

Make the budget whatever you want - then add £80M to it.

Which do you prefer?

Harry Kane.

 

[Timberwolf]

If anything us losing Kane now would temper expectations of fans a bit I think. Might actually be a positive thing for a new manager.

Maybe, but I still think the fan-base is accustomed to being a "big 6" team and there's a genuine chance we have a proper mid-table season without Kane and finish like 11th-12th, a bit like Ange did in his first season in Japan before it clicked the season after.

Not sure the fans will put up with that. Or Levy.

 

[McFlash]

But the biggest hurdle would be him signing a new contract and honestly time is running out. It’s make or break this summer.

I'm not sure it is, after the last few years he's going to want to ensure that we're actually headed in the right direction and it's not another false dawn.

If he hasn't signed an extension by January, I'll accept that he's leaving and although that's too late to get any money for him, I'll wave him goodbye and (maybe) wish him well.

Still think he may stay though.

 

[srups34]

FWIW Paul O'Keefe is echoing Trix, doesn't think Levy will budge.

Paul O'Keefe is Trix

 

[spursfan77]

That Jacobs is a charlatan. Look at that tweet. They don’t want to sell but it will take this but they don’t want to sell. He needs filing under bullshit merchant.

 

[Scot-Spur]

It all depends on who/what our contingencies are. If we had a solid plan in place for a Vlahovic or Ferguson then I’d be somewhat happier.

 

[Tezza1978]

With all Levys faults, i'm really happy how he's dealt with the Kane situation as a whole, Man City 2 years ago and now this. Staying firm on pay "X" amount, most, if not all upfront or do one.

His negotiating tactics are detrimental for us alot of the times but I feel he's handled Kane well, like most fans would aswell. If around £90m upfront cash offer comes in, all upfront with no silly add ons then it has to be seriously considered.

I'm in two minds, my brain says take the £90m (if its offered) My heart says keep him for another season, hope we win something to convince him to sign a new contract.

I just cannot see how Bayern is enough of a pull for him to give up potentially not breaking the all time prem record. If we were talking about Man Utd or Man City, it would be more understandable, but a few Bundesliga titles and a decent push at Champions League? Hmm i'm not sure.

Good post, agree with nearly all of it. Levy - rightly in my view - gets a lot of stick re transfers but he couldn't have handled the Kane situation any better [im not talking about his ambition /spending/transfers/meddling/managers we should /should not have appointed - just the way the cards have fallen after these wrong decisions in terms of Kane]

IMO he doesn't sell other than for an utterly ridiculous amount. He talked about building a statue for Kane recently. Plus the more pertinent point is that selling Kane immediately - rightly or wrongly - puts ENORMOUS pressure on Ange.....and Levy himself. A poor start to the season.....and the shit really hits the fan............

 

[Timberwolf]

Good post, agree with nearly all of it. Levy - rightly in my view - gets a lot of stick re transfers but he couldn't have handled the Kane situation any better [im not talking about his ambition /spending/transfers/meddling/managers we should /should not have appointed - just the way the cards have fallen after these wrong decisions in terms of Kane]

IMO he doesn't sell other than for an utterly ridiculous amount. He talked about building a statue for Kane recently. Plus the more pertinent point is that selling Kane immediately - rightly or wrongly - puts ENORMOUS pressure on Ange.....and Levy himself. A poor start to the season.....and the shit really hits the fan............

Exactly. If Richy can't hit a barn door and we take 7-8 matches to adjust to Ange's style of play it could be a Ramos situation and then what? Nuno mk.2 and Mason in charge AGAIN?

I think with Kane in the team he's just too damn good for that to happen.

I mean, this is worse case scenario stuff and we'll likely have to adjust to Kane leaving the season after anyway, but if we lose Kane in a year at least Ange's style will be embedded by then and we can push on rather than changing everything all at once.

 

[robotsonic]

Might not of ever settled in Germany.

A cautionary tale...

 

[yido-1989]

Not to drag up old stuff, BUT, city priced themselves out of Kane by purchasing Grealish first and at 100 million. Then insulted us by offering significantly less than that. For a player far better than Grealish. Despite age and contact situation.

You might be right but it’s not like we were that interested in selling Kane, with the other players mentioned we were a on/off team that realistically couldn’t hold onto our best players, two went to Real Madrid & the other two went to Alex Fergusons United team.
Once Poch put us around the top 4 consistently we have kept hold of our best players. Walker has been the only one and I’m sure I’ve seen levy regrets that one too.

 

[Stavrogin]

I feel the complete opposite about Levy's handling of Kane, he has had the top English striker for a decade in his prime and neither we nor Harry have any silverware to show for it, it's inexcusable, the equivalence of buying a F1 car and asking your granny to drive it.

Can't really agree with this. It was probably because of Kane that Levy appointed Mourinho and Conte - hardly grannies.

If you mean we should have spent a lot more money, well, we should always spend as much as we can. If Kane hadn't have come along, should Levy have been allowed to spend less? I totally get your point but when you pull at the threads it unravels.

It's just a sad thing that we were unable to really get on top whilst Kane was here. But that's just how it is sometimes. Liverpool had similar luck with finding top players cheaply, got themselves an even better manager than Pochettino. Spent a lot on some elite players and yet could never really overcome Man City. They won the league only when Man City had a off year (during Covid) and won the Champions league by beating us.

The financial muscle that Chelsea and Man City have brought to bear on the domestic game has massively reduced the opportunities for normal clubs to win trophies during Kane's career. So we shouldn't be so upset about it. The fact is, whilst he played for us we competed at the highest level, played in the Champions league most seasons, played in cup finals etc. You could say that last season was a waste of Kane's time (was it a waste of Salah's too?) but that was an outlier.

I understand that we all have this inferiority complex about not being good enough for him. But we've put him onto the biggest stage and given him some of the biggest matches you can have. The failure to get anything over the line is his too.

 

[RuskyM]

We signed Eriksen and 4-5 duds when we sold Bale, if we’d signed 4-5 players of the value and quality of Eriksen then we’d have absolutely make the team much stronger overall.

I don’t think it’s ever good in a team sport to over rely on 1-2 players.

But this is the point: transfers are such a crapshoot. There's so many reasons a lot of transfers don't work out; players don't settle, managers change, injuries, personality clashes. You're trading a quantity that almost guarantees 25+ goals a season for the possibility you'll get that again.

People refer to Coutinho but I'd argue a) Coutinho wasn't the best player at Liverpool at the time and b) there's a reason he's the only player people cite. Us with Bale, Liverpool with Suarez, Everton with Lukaku, Villa with Grealish, Monaco with Mbappe. Yes, the possibility is there that you improve, but it's so so unlikely. You're starting with a massive step back.

 

[Timberwolf]

One other point - if we sign 2 decent CBs, Maddison and Vicario, do we even need an extra 90m in a year's time.

In theory, we'd be covered at keeper, CB, fullbacks, CM and have a decent selection of wide options. We would no longer be in the urgent 'squad rebuild' stage beyond buying a striker and a wide forward? We could probably get 2 decent players with our usual ~80-120m annual outlay.

Basically - 90m is a lot of money, but it's not that much money in the modern game. Arsenal spent 70m on Pepe ffs while Havertz is still worth 65m after being pretty shite for 3 years. You can easily waste it or not get great value.