PEP SHOP BOY
Spurs won’t listen to City’s latest offers for Kane... but Pep says he hasn’t given up fight to bring top players to the Etihad
WHO needs Harry Kane when your team can plunder five goals without playing with a recognised striker?
Not Manchester City, it would seem, despite their ongoing pursuit of the £150million-valued Tottenham and England striker.
Boss Pep Guardiola, however, claimed City are obliged to push all the way until transfer-deadline day for Kane, because of the lofty ambitions of his club.
City’s bid to sign Kane may have stalled over their unwillingness to match Spurs chairman Daniel Levy’s valuation, but Guardiola said the Blues will continue to do all they can to sign him.
“When we decided to not sign a contract for Sergio Aguero and people said what we were going to do, I said many times – it’ll depend on the market, the options,” said
Guardiola. “Maybe we’ll buy or maybe we’ll not. We still have 10 days in the transfer market, we’re going to see what happens, and it depends on that, what decision we are going to take.
“We put in incredible energy this week to realise that we still want to be there, to try to compete with the good teams in England and Europe. We want to be there.
“The group of people are fantastic, the players have incredible quality, so I can not complain. I’ve never complained since I arrived on day one, I will not do it now.
“But, of course, the club has an obligation, the duty to look forward, to get better, to feel we can still be there with a tough Premier League and this is what we’re going to do.”
That obligation to land Kane looked more like a vanity signing after City pulverized Norwich to find their form after their 1-0 defeat at Tottenham on the opening weekend of the campaign.
Gabriel Jesus, ostensibly a forward but who was deployed wide on the right, provided three assists as City ran amok, with new £100m signing Jack Grealish registering his first goal for his new club. Jesus created the first, an own goal from Norwich keeper Tim Krul, the second went in off Grealish, while further strikes from Aymeric Laporte and subs Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez added gloss to the scoreline.
If City fail in their pursuit of Kane, Guardiola has huge faith in 18-year-old striker Liam Delap, son of former Stoke midfielder Rory, who recently signed a new long-term contract with City.
“He’s going to train with us if a striker comes or doesn’t come,” said Guardiola. “He is injured, but we know him quite well.
“He is an exceptional striker. Many teams want him, maybe he’s the most requested player we have had since we arrived, but we count on him, he’s going to train with us.”
While City’s focus until deadline day will be on trying to land Kane, they are also working on finalising a new long-term contract for Sterling, although Guardiola remained tight-lipped on that topic.
Asked if he could provide an update on Sterling’s contract, Guardiola said: “No, because it’s not my business. I am never involved.
“I’m not involved in the transactions and what they do. We share opinions but the process about that, I don’t know.”