KANE’S NOT ABLE TO GO
England captain is staying at Spurs after a summer of trying to leave club
HARRY Kane insists he’s “staying at Tottenham” after accepting he won’t be joining Manchester City this summer.
And Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo hailed the news as “fantastic”.
The England captain, who is the club’s second highest all-time scorer, was desperate to sign for the Premier League champions in order to win silverware.
Pep Guardiola had publicly said City were interested in signing him.
But Tottenham’s stance was always that the 28-year-old was not for sale – and City failed to put in a bid that tempted them to change their mind. Now, with less than a week of the summer transfer window left, Kane knows he won’t be leaving.
But he says he’s “100 per cent focused” on the club and thanked the fans for their reaction to him when he made his first appearance of the season at Wolves on Sunday.
Kane tweeted: “It was incredible to see the reception from the Spurs fans on Sunday and to read some of the messages of support I’ve had in the last few weeks.
“I will be staying at Tottenham this summer and will be 100 per cent focused on helping the team achieve success.”
Kane is halfway through a six-year deal and without a release clause, the north London club held the power.
The striker believed he had an agreement with chairman Daniel Levy he would be sold this summer but Spurs deny that ever existed.
Kane made it clear he wanted to be sold at the back end of last term in order to win silverware.
In an interview with Gary Neville, he strongly hinted at City being the club he wanted to join, naming Kevin De Bruyne as his ideal team-mate.
City made an opening bid totalling £100million with Kane on England duty at the Euros but it was swiftly rejected.
Once the Euros were over, Kane’s camp upped the ante in a bid to force a move through, with a report – from a journalist who was a guest at Kane’s brother’s wedding – saying a £160m deal had been agreed with City. Both clubs refuted that.
Kane consequently did not report for pre-season on August 2 and it later emerged he was still on holiday in the Bahamas.
Upon his late return he was forced to self-isolate at the club’s training ground, meaning he did not have the fitness to feature in Spurs’ opening two games of the season – a Premier League win over City and a Europa Conference League tie.
He eventually made his return as a sub on Sunday against Wolves and it’s now emerged he’ll be staying beyond Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
Nuno, continually asked about Kane’s future since taking the reins, is delighted. Ahead of their Europa Conference League qualifying play-off against Pacos de Ferreira, he said: “Great news, fantastic news.
“It’s finished, Harry is going to be with us. He is an option (tonight). It is great news for everybody.”