Harry Kane's future at Tottenham is again in question. Photo: PA/John Walton
All Clubs' Choice Harry Kane, who turns 30 next month, has 12 more months to go, is uninjured, fit and still one of the greatest scorers of this and every other era . The problem, as always, is what lies between the present moment and the free agents — and, to put it bluntly, whether he can sustain another season at Tottenham Hotspur.
The answer, apparently, will be that this is no longer the case. Kane and his advisers cannot force Daniel Levy to accept any offer that Bayern Munich can make. Just as they couldn't impose on the Spurs chairman what Manchester City had to offer or not offer in the summer of 2021. However, without disappointing Bayern, Kane makes it clear that there will be no new contract with Spurs. or within the next 12 months, and if Levy wants to realize any value, he will have to do it now.
Does Kane want to stop chasing Alan Shearer's Premier League goalscoring record — even if temporarily — and move your family to Germany and a league that is currently more of a preparatory phase than a career high for English players? His stance seems to be that he's willing to consider any serious offer — and no doubt in the hope that it can smoke out others in the Premier League.
Sell or not, it will be Levy's choice. to do — although before it always seemed different. Levy believed for a long time, with the confidence of an experienced player, that he could pull off something that would convince Kane to sign a new contract. However, even he should now know that if Kane doesn't leave now, it will be next summer, in which case he might have to do it now.
Levi had Kane where he wanted to be for a long time. Mainly because of the six-year contract signed by the player before the 2018 World Cup final, which gave him no room to maneuver and gave the Spurs chairman an advantage. Kane was not destined to learn about the crisis that followed at the club just under 18 months after the departure of Mauricio Pochettino. Though perhaps he should have foreseen that when he most needed flexibility in planning his career, he didn't give himself it.
As for Levi, he has long refused to grant Kane his release, while at the same time trying to sweeten the pill of this refusal. He toned down his star player in the post-Pochettino years, appointing José Mourinho and then Antonio Conte to try and get the show back on tour. Last summer, with the help of an investment from Enic's billionaire owner Joe Lewis, he attempted to demonstrate the necessary ambition on the part of the club, and this ultimately did not stop the decline.
Is Daniel Levy in danger of losing Harry Kane to a free transfer next summer? Credit: Getty Images/Adrian Dennis
However, when it comes to Kane, it now increasingly seems that all Levi has left is the last year of his contract and nothing else. Levy has relied on Kane as a model prisoner of his circumstances at the Spurs over the last two seasons, and he certainly has been. He never caused such excitement that would make him sell. He was the best player on a team that was quickly fading away. Perhaps if the targets began to dwindle or the star waned, Levy could jump on that fall and offer him a new deal. But Kane's standards never wavered.
The summer of 2024 is the moment when Kane can take control of his career. However, these latest developments suggest that if the chance presents itself, he won't wait until then. Thomas Tuchel will tell him that Bayern is the place where he can still win the Champions League. Bayern have agreed to be something of a trough by their standards, even after their 11th straight Bundesliga title, but even then there's always a chance they'll be in contention for the Champions League. Definitely more chance than Spurs who have no European football next season.
For Ange Postekoglou, Kane's future at Spurs is like a movie that the club's new manager is caught 10 minutes before the credits . . There is so much water under the bridge, and there were times when Kane had nowhere to go. But there has always been a limit to how long Levy had to convince his best player to stay and now the clock is ticking until midnight.
The Tottenham chairman can keep his position, demanding more than £100m. for a football player who is now in his 30s, but that too has its consequences when the same player can leave for nothing in a year. Kane himself has made it clear where he stands, and when it comes to being unwaveringly committed to what he wants — no matter what others may think — you can tell Levy has taught him well.
Свежие комментарии