Levy defiant over Kane
Spurs chairman and striker dispute ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ on move
In Harry Kane’s mind the current impasse with Tottenham is remarkably simple. He believes he has a deal agreed with chairman Daniel Levy that entitles him to leave for Manchester City for a fee of £125million after Tottenham failed to win a cup or finish in the top four last season. He is convinced that deal should be honoured and allow him to leave through the front door with his relationship with the club and the fans intact.
Kane’s problem is that Levy has a very different recollection: he believes the stipulations were more than a little at variance and included wanting to sell him to a club outside the Premier League unless the transfer fee was “amazing”. Kane believes this was added in more recent discussions and was not something he had agreed with.
His issue is that he is dealing with a man who makes it notoriously difficult to leave Tottenham, as history has shown. Just ask Dimitar Berbatov, Luka Modric or Gareth Bale. Berbatov got his move to Manchester United in the summer of 2009, but only on deadline day; as with Kane, Modric felt he had a gentlemen’s agreement with Levy but instead of joining Chelsea in 2011 he had to wait until the following year before sealing a move to Real Madrid; Bale again had to wait all summer in 2013 before finally following Modric to the Bernabeu.
Levy was central to each of those cases, and this summer his take-no-prisoners approach is playing out once more. Kane is acutely aware that in the course of the last few weeks his professionalism has already been questioned after his late return to training, an issue he lays squarely at Levy’s door.
The common denominator is price and, again, Spurs are within their rights to seek the price they have placed on Kane, and maybe he should have clarified what that price would be in his previous talks. In turn, Kane believed something over £100million would be enough.
At the same time City can only negotiate a deal if Levy is willing to talk to them and sources close to Kane say the chairman is refusing to do that, despite having held negotiations in the past. Maybe, again, he thinks it is a waste of time, although which of his reported positions is right: he has no intention of selling (and if so he has shifted on that) or he will sell if the asking price is met?
Kane still hopes to move, but there must be a part of him that wonders what happens if he stays, and what
the reaction toward him will be? He heard the chants Tottenham fans sang about him – “Are you watching, Harry Kane?” – in the latter stages of Sunday’s 1-0 win over Manchester City. Kane was indeed watching at home, and he undoubtedly erred in not being in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – after being told he was not in the match-day squad as he worked on his fitness – just as he erred in signing a six-year contract in June 2018 that may have included a huge pay rise but did not include a get-out clause.
That was a mistake – does any top player really need to commit himself beyond three years at any club? – and one he quickly realised.
But what else has he actually done wrong? Situations change and it is Kane’s prerogative to ask for a move if he feels his career is in danger of being unfulfilled. Similarly it is, of course, Spurs’ prerogative to hold Kane to his contract if they cannot exact the price they want for him if he is to be sold.
But Kane feels he has done more than enough to be given the opportunity to leave in the manner he believes Levy promised. He has overcome doubts to become one of the world’s best strikers, scoring 220 goals for the club, but he is 28 and the clock is ticking on his career. He knows now is the moment for him to leave, and he has a destination in mind.
It has led to suggestions Kane will be vilified by Tottenham fans, but that would be unfair – particularly if he ends up staying.
That is a possibility he is more than aware of, and he has told Tottenham that if it happens then he will continue to give his all on the pitch under new head coach Nuno Espirito Santo, who he has no issue with.
Disputes over transfers unfortunately become very personal and tribal. But the fact is Kane does not deserve to become some kind of hate figure, whether he gets his move or not.