Harry Kane’s attempts to secure a move to Manchester City turned ugly yesterday as the England captain failed to report for the start of his pre-season training at Tottenham Hotspur and was threatened with a fine.
Kane, 28, was due to return to the club’s Enfield training base for a Covid test and routine pre-season assessments before the new campaign, having had a three-week break after reaching the European Championship final with England. He did not turn up, however, and Tottenham plan to fine the £200,000-a-week striker for being in breach of his contract.
Spurs are uncertain about when or if Kane will return and his team-mates were left surprised by such a defiant act from a player who is seen as the golden boy of a club he joined at the age of 11.
Kane had already told Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, that he wants to leave this summer and believed a gentlemen’s agreement was struck between them last year that would allow him to do so.
Tottenham deny any such verbal deal was agreed and Levy is determined to keep hold of the club’s most important player, who still has three years remaining on a six-year contract.
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The club refused to comment yesterday but Tottenham’s hierarchy are understood to be unimpressed with Kane’s handling of the situation as his intentions to leave were made public before the end of last season when the team’s fate was yet to be decided.
Spurs finished seventh in the Premier League and will play in the inaugural Europa Conference League, with a play-off round this month against Paços de Ferreira, of Portugal, or Larne, of Northern Ireland.
Kane has grown frustrated at the club’s failure to win trophies and is desperate to secure a move to City, the Premier League champions. Chelsea and Manchester United have also registered an interest in signing Kane, who is believed to be valued at around £160 million by Spurs.
The disputed gentlemen’s agreement is said to have been struck last year when Levy convinced Kane to remain at the club despite his request to be sold that summer. Tottenham then had their worst season in 13 years and the manager, José Mourinho, was sacked six days before their Carabao Cup final defeat to Pep Guardiola’s City.
The new Tottenham head coach, Nuno Espírito Santo, has not yet spoken to Kane since being appointed as Mourinho’s permanent successor at the end of June but had been planning to hold face-to-face discussions with the striker yesterday. Nuno’s first competitive match with Spurs will be at home to City in their opening Premier League game on August 15, a match Kane is unlikely to feature in regardless of whether a conclusion has been reached in the transfer saga.
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Nuno, formerly of Wolverhampton Wanderers, has previously insisted that Kane remains a Tottenham player but was not forthcoming when asked whether Levy promised him that the striker would stay. In recent years Gareth Bale and Luka Modric both forced moves away from Spurs by failing to report for training but Kane was criticised for his actions yesterday.
Jamie Carragher, the Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender, believes Kane could be at risk of damaging his reputation at Tottenham.
“It is wrong not to turn up for training,” Carragher wrote on Twitter. “We all know he wants to go & can totally understand why. But Harry should not ruin his name or relationship with the supporters who idolise him just to get the move. Spurs will always be HIS club.”
Speaking in May to Gary Neville’s YouTube show The Overlap, Kane said that he needed to have an “honest conversation” with Levy and suggested the idea of selling him may be attractive to the Tottenham chairman.
“I think it’s definitely a conversation to be had with the club,” Kane said. “I’m sure that [Levy] will want to set out the plan of where he sees it but, ultimately, it’s going to be down to me and how I feel and what’s going to be best for me and my career.”
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City believe they can finance the deal despite Jack Grealish also being confident that a £100 million move from Aston Villa to the Etihad Stadium will be completed in the next few days.
Tony Cascarino: Levy not in a position of strength this time
Tottenham Hotspur have had a long time to think about Harry Kane. If you’ve been worried for two years that you might lose him, you should have been prepared for this. Now Daniel Levy, the chairman, is in for a rocky ride.
Kane is 28 and he has done his time at Spurs. He is a triple Premier League golden boot winner and has scored ten goals at the past two major tournaments for England. I don’t see how Levy can be in a position of strength when the main man says, “No, this is not how it’s going to be.” A player can be bigger than a club for a period of time.
Kane is taking a hard stance on this because he has to. He is prepared to rock the boat — but will not be comfortable with that because he is the ultimate professional. He will be saying to the club privately that they forced him to do it.
I joined Aston Villa from Millwall in 1990 and the deal took a week to go though. I had to take a hard stance because I wanted the move. You feel let down by what’s been said before.
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That’s what I admired about Sir Alex Ferguson — he asked Cristiano Ronaldo for one more year at Old Trafford, which he got, and then he allowed him to leave Manchester United. The managerial situation at Spurs has only made things worse.
What on earth were Tottenham doing sacking José Mourinho before the Carabao Cup final — a rare chance of silverware — and putting Ryan Mason in charge? That’s not a criticism of Mason, but he was 29. That’s borderline negligent and it would have made Kane scratch his head enormously.
I think the majority of Tottenham fans would understand Kane’s situation and be more against Levy and how he has dealt with it. Everyone keeps telling me Levy is the greatest negotiator in football but he can’t be — he doesn’t have a position of strength. I can’t see how he comes out of this with a solution he wants.
