MATCH STAT
SPURS HAVE BEATEN MAN CITY 2-0 AT HOME IN EACH OF THE LAST TWO SEASONS
WHEN Jack Grealish was being unveiled as English football’s first £100million man by Manchester City on Monday you can bet Harry Kane was paying close attention.
Grealish spoke about how hard it was to leave his boyhood club but it being the right move for him to play Champions League football and win trophies.
Kane must feel, with some justification, it should have been him.
The England captain appears to feel a gentleman’s agreement was in place that would have seen the same amount of money release him from Tottenham as it took to prise Grealish from Aston Villa. And Kane could have been the missing part of the jigsaw at the Etihad in a way his international team-mate cannot.
If there was a weakness at City you felt it was in that finishing touch – a centreforward who can match the quality of their approach play – particularly given the injuries and subsequent departure to Barcelona this summer of Sergio Aguero.
Grealish adds strength in an area where City already have an embarrassment of riches but boss Pep Guardiola presumably has more confidence that he and Phil Foden can shine in the same XI than the England boss Gareth Southgate.
It’s not a problem Guardiola needs to address straight away, with injuries set to keep Foden and Kevin De Bruyne out of the season opener while key players like Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte and Ederson have not taken part in any of their pre-season friendlies.
City may have been runaway champions but they were ring-rusty at the start of last season and Spurs could see Sunday’s game as an early opportunity to get their new manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s reign off to a winning start.
That would certainly raise the mood at a club where the speculation over Kane has cast a summer-long downer.
All eyes will be on whether Nuno is convinced Kane is in the right frame of mind to let his boots do the talking and whether the No.9 feels ready to prove a point to the club he is craving to join.