Kane’s future is put on hold until after opener against City
Harry Kane is hopeful that his future will become clearer next week after Tottenham Hotspur’s opening Premier League fixture, at home to Manchester City, has been played.
Tottenham continue to insist that Kane is not for sale but City remain strongly interested in the striker, who is desperate to join them, and sources have indicated there has even been fresh dialogue between the clubs.
City are understood to value Kane at around £120million, although there may be add-ons which could significantly boost that figure. While Spurs say they will not sell Kane, there have been informed suggestions that their valuation is around £160 million.
Having already signed Jack Grealish for £100million, it means that City are prepared to break the British transfer record twice in the same summer.
The situation around Kane is described by sources as “extremely sensitive” and has undoubtedly become more complicated because the two clubs face each other as the league starts this weekend.
Kane is due to return to training today if he registers a negative Covid test to end his period of isolation. The 28-year-old took a day-five PCR “test to release” yesterday morning to hopefully end his isolation.
Kane has been staying at The Lodge, Spurs’ training ground accommodation, since returning to the UK from the Bahamas, via Florida, last Saturday and has been training on his own. His future, and whether he will be in the squad to face City, will dominate manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s pre-match press conference today.
Feelings are running high over Kane’s desire to leave, despite having three years left on his contract, with the player having sought to save face with angry Spurs fans by insisting last Friday that he had not refused to train after failing to return at the start of the week.
Kane issued a statement via Twitter saying he had been “hurt” by comments “questioning my professionalism” and claimed he would be returning “as planned”.
That caused bafflement among some staff at Spurs, while Kane and Nuno held talks this week for the first time since the Portuguese was appointed head coach. Nuno said he was keen to “solve all the situations”.
Meanwhile Paul Coyte, who has been the popular match-day announcer at Spurs for 16 years, has announced that he has been let go.
City have taken their income this summer to £59.9million with the £8.5million sale of Serbia midfielder Ivan Ilic to Hellas Verona, where he was on loan. Leroy Sane’s £55million sale to Bayern Munich last summer was not included in City’s accounts for 2019-20, so they believe they have raised £114.9million over the past 12 months towards the cost of moves for Grealish and potentially Kane. City expect that income figure to further swell with the departures of Yangel Herrera, Pedro Porro and Morgan Rogers and a senior player such as Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus or Aymeric Laporte.