Kane could make Spurs return in European play-off
Guardiola needs finisher so he does not have to rely on defence again to beat rivals who have improved
Harry Kane has been included in Tottenham Hotspur’s 25-man squad for their Europa Conference League play-off on Thursday, despite continuing to push for a British-record move to Manchester City.
The England captain trained yesterday, with the rest of the squad given the day off, as he works on his fitness. He only rejoined the Spurs players on Friday after returning late from holiday and undergoing a period of self-isolation. Kane did not feature in the match-day squad as Spurs beat City 1-0 in their opening Premier League match on Sunday, with head coach Nuno Espirito Santo saying he had trained on his own in the morning and had not been required to attend the game.
Kane remains determined to try to secure a move before the transfer window closes in two weeks, but has also told Spurs he is available to play and has no intention of refusing to co-operate.
The 28-year-old hopes City will submit an improved offer, closer to the £160million Spurs are understood to be insisting upon, this week to finally resolve his future. Spurs maintain they will not negotiate a sale, but there is a sense from all parties that it is “now or never” if a deal is to be agreed this month. Spurs fly to Portugal tomorrow to face Pacos de Ferreira the next day in the first leg of a play-off to reach the group stage of the new Uefa tournament.
If Kane travels and plays, he will not be precluded from featuring for another club in European competition as the tie is a play-off. It means he could still play for City in the Champions League group stage. Nuno may also deem an away trip as an opportunity to reintegrate Kane.
Nuno has omitted record signing Tanguy Ndombele – who did not play a minute in pre-season despite returning to training at the start of July – and Serge Aurier from his European squad. The future of both players at Spurs has to, again, be in question.
The pair are the only first-team players not listed and both would like to leave. Ndombele and Aurier were at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Kane was not believed to have been there.
At the start of last season the glaring hole in the Manchester City team, despite the signing of Nathan Ake for £40million, was in the centre of defence. They conceded five goals against Leicester City in their first home Premier League match – then went out and bought Ruben Dias for £62.5million. The rest is history as he became the rock at the heart of their irrepressible march towards winning the title – a campaign built on that immovable defence.
This time around it is the centre of their attack that is the issue. City – and certainly Pep Guardiola – desperately want Harry Kane and, on May 17, it emerged that the England captain definitely wanted out of Tottenham Hotspur. Guardiola was delighted, especially as it quickly followed that Kane had targeted joining City.
Yet 13 weeks later, and with only a fortnight left before the transfer window closes, Kane is still at Tottenham, continues to agitate for the move and hopes that this week – at last – there will be some developments. That despite Tottenham being increasingly bullish over the weekend that he will be forced to stay.
Kane has been included in the 25-man squad for Thursday’s Europa Conference League qualifying play-off against Pacos de Ferreira. This is not what he hoped for by now, although it remains to be seen whether he travels to Portugal.
City need Kane. Despite their brilliance there is a trend that has to be addressed. Last season they scored a still-impressive 83 league goals – but that was 19 fewer than the campaign before, when they finished second, and 12 fewer than when they won the title in 2018-19. Their top scorer was Ilkay Gundogan with 13, and the midfielder cannot be expected to repeat that. Raheem Sterling scored 10 and, despite there being 14 other scorers, no one else made it into double figures. Gabriel Jesus scored nine; Sergio Aguero barely played and scored only four. Meanwhile, Kane topped the Premier League charts with 23 goals and 14 assists in a struggling Spurs team who finished seventh.
At the same time, City averaged 2.04 goals per game in expected goals (which analyses how many goals they should have scored from the chances they created). This was their lowest under Guardiola and is a trend they will have identified and want to arrest.
Factor in that Liverpool were freakishly handicapped defensively, Manchester United were not good enough – but have bought Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane – and Chelsea were in transition and did not have a recognised goalscorer. Chelsea’s XG was 12 more than the 58 they scored. Romelu Lukaku will take those chances. And more.
So City need Kane. Yes, Guardiola is right in saying after the opening-weekend defeat at Spurs that it is basically the same squad who performed so outstandingly last season and outscored everyone else. But he still needs Kane.
Jack Grealish has been signed for a British-record £100million, but he will not make up the goals deficit that City are in danger of suffering without an accomplished centre-forward.
Unlike the Kane deal, signing Grealish was easy. There was a release clause at Aston Villa and once that was met the transfer was there to be done. There is no such clause for Kane and, despite the protestations that he had a “gentlemen’s agreement” with Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, that has once again proved to mean nothing. So City have to pay up and Kane has to agitate for a move and, to an extent, has done so, although I find it disappointing that players in his position are not more candid. Why does he not submit a transfer request, issue a statement saying he wants to leave and is willing to forgo any “loyalty” payments he would contractually be due, and see if that works? If a deal still cannot be struck he can say he is staying and will be fully committed to Spurs. There is no discrepancy in that. It would help all parties but, unfortunately, football lacks that level of maturity.
So it rumbles on, although, surely, it cannot go beyond this
It is impossible to believe there is not another getable, reliable goalscorer out there
week. That also begs the question as to why City themselves have not set a deadline beyond which they are not prepared to negotiate and which would also give them time to try to find another striker. Chelsea quickly discovered that they could not sign Erling Haaland or Kane and decided against a move for Robert Lewandowski, and so settled on Lukaku.
What is City’s contingency plan? It may well be that Guardiola has decided it is Kane or no one else. But Aguero has gone and Jesus has not turned out to be a reliable enough goalscorer so, in the absence of a world-class centreforward, City face the prospect of having to “find a way”, as they did last season, but in an environment in which their closest rivals have made significant improvements.
It is impossible to believe there is not another getable, reliable goalscorer out there who would enhance City’s chances.
Last season’s title win was powered by an extraordinary defence, rather than an unstoppable attack, and that might prove to be enough again. But it might not.
If City buy Kane they will be even more formidable. It may well be game over. For the sake of a title race, it is best it does not happen. We will soon find out.