Words aren't binding, as Kane is finding out the hard way - but he's not the only player to have made a verbal pact
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It's hard not to picture Harry Kane, sat on Daniel Levy's office couch, looking up at the Tottenham Hotspur chairman as the pair recreate the famous scene-cum-meme from Channel 4 hit sitcom, Peep Show.
"But... you promised to let me go," Kane (probably) insists. "Mourinho promised to win us trophies, Harry - welcome to the real world," the response.
Kane, Levy and Kane's agent and brother Charlie, apparently thrashed out this now-infamous "gentleman's agreement" last summer, just two years into the England captain's contract. The Kanes were granted assurance that Harry could depart north London, should the price be right - only for Tottenham's hierarchy to renegue on the conversation.
If the words of mere players, managers and their representatives are to be believed - not to mention the press, who love a good stir, of course - these three aren't the first to have had a major fallout over a verbal agreement in football. In fact, it's apparently not Daniel Levy's first time disappointing an employee over what he promised...
Manchester City eventually got their man for around £60m. But corr blimey, was Riyad Mahrez's relationship with Leicester City tested before he made the move to Eastlands. No wonder he celebrates if he scores against them, now.
“I had a good discussion with the chairman last summer and we agreed at that time that I would stay for another year in order to help the club as best as I could following the transition of winning the title and in the Champions League,” Mahrez claimed just 12 months after the incredible scenes of the Foxes winning the title. A bumper new contract for himself and partner-in-crime Jamie Vardy certainly helped, no doubt.
But no one told his manager. "I am not aware of any gentleman's agreement. If they are in place, then we need to be aware of it," then-boss Craig Shakespeare stone-facedly claimed.
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Mahrez pushed to go to City in January of 2018 but was refused, leading the winger to go AWOL and BT Sport pundit Chris Sutton to claim, "He's a big baby isn't he? Leicester put him on the map." Leicester fans still boo Mahrez, who moved just months later, after all.
2. Alexis Sanchez and Arsenal
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Man City must be pretty glad they spent that fee on Mahrez rather than Alexis Sanchez. The form of the former Premier League prince dropped off the edge of a cliff after joining Manchester United in a swap deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan - but the childlike Chilean could've well joined the blue side of Manchester in a parallel world.
Deadline day of 2017 was a chaotic time for the Arsenal higher-ups who received a bid of around £60m for prize possession Alexis Sanchez, a year from his contract ending. International duty falling around this time complicated things; Sanchez apparently told City he'd sign for them and his Chilean teammates that he was moving imminently.
But Arsenal pulled the plug, unable to lure then-Monaco star Thomas Lemar, who was too busy playing for France that day to so much as talk to the club. Arsenal stuck with their wantaway forward, leaving Pep Guardiola short of a forward and Alexis's word in the dust.
The City Football Group apparently explored avenues of suing the Gunners for leaving them in the lurch. Judging by Sanchez's appalling stint at United, taking Sanchez off of Arsenal's hands sooner while avoiding any situation of Mkhitaryan joining would have been doing Arsene Wenger a massive favour.
3. Petr Cech and Chelsea
Jose Mourinho has not been his successful self for a while. Sure, he brought the Europa League to Manchester United - but you can trace the moment that the aura cracked to the summer of 2015.
That was the season that his Chelsea champions capitulated on the pitch, he fell out with physio Eva Carneiro and half the dressing room turned against him. But perhaps what angered the Special One more than anything was Roman Abramovich selling Petr Cech to Arsenal against the manager's wishes, for just £10m.
In hindsight, Arsenal made a monumental boob in buying the helmet-headed custodian - but back then, this seemed like a masterstroke. Chelsea's owner - who always had a good relationship with Cech, even to this day - apparently promised the goalkeeper in 2014 that he'd sell him to a rival London club and avoid a family upheaval abroad if he stayed a year as Thibaut Courtois's no.2. And true to his promise, he let Cech go to Chelsea's bitter rivals - and Mourinho's nemesis Wenger - on the balance that Champions League football seemed more secure.
How things change - and not just at Arsenal. Cech is now back in a backroom role at Stamford Bridge, while Mourinho has never recovered from the bin fire of that season. All's well that ends well, though, making this one of very few situations in which a fulfilled promise ended up causing the drama.
4. Luis Suarez and Liverpool
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“Last year I had the opportunity to move to a big European club and I stayed on the understanding that if we failed to qualify for the Champions League the following season I’d be allowed to go,” said Luis Suarez in 2013.
“I gave absolutely everything last season but it was not enough to give us a top-four finish – now all I want is for Liverpool to honour our agreement. This is about the club having agreed to something both verbally and in the contract which they are now not honouring.”
We're back in north London for another verbal agreement, this one involving the infamous £40m plus £1 bid for Liverpool's Uruguayan machine. The Gunners triggered the release clause; the Reds were too insulted to let them talk to Suarez. Arsenal chose not to take the issue any further and settled for Mesut Ozil, instead.
But while most players don't settle down at a club who are effectively tying them down for two seasons longer than they want to stay, Chewy Luis remained at Anfield and had his best-ever season in a red shirt before deciding enough was enough and flying the nest to win the Champions League. He didn't quite get things his way when he was pushed out the Barcelona door six years later against his - and pal Leo Messi's - will.
5. Saido Berahino and West Bromwich Albion
"Under Mauricio Pochettino, with the players they had, it was the beginning of the new Tottenham," Saido Berahino told FFT exclusively this year. "Being part of that would have been fantastic – it would have taken me to another level. But West Brom kept rejecting their offers, then when my agent told me the move was off, I was upset."
Berahino had a right to be upset, according to the reported gentleman's agreement that West Brom owner Jeremy Peace had made with Daniel Levy. Tottenham apparently had first refusal of the striker - though Berahino never got his move and ended up upsetting Baggies fans with his antics. He's since matured, realised Spurs should have done more to try and sign him and even claimed he'd love to go back to the Hawthorns one day.
"I’m meant to be in my prime years now, and I have a point to prove," the Burundi international said. "I’m not the person that people think I am. The way the fans took to me and chanted my name was unbelievable, and the way it ended was disappointing. I have regrets."
6. Jadon Sancho and Borussia Dortmund
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It was well over a year later that Manchester United finally signed Jadon Sancho after a very bumpy saga and some very worrying reports for United fans about how the club intended to prise the starlet from the Bundesliga.
Because rather than putting up a real title challenge last season with Sancho in tow, United dithered and dallied on buying Borussia Dortmund's premier asset, only to seemingly panic on deadline day and sign three players as a consolation to fans. Chief exec Ed Woodward reportedly entered negotiations with the German giants intending to low-ball them, despite Dortmund not wanting or needing to sell. There was an asking price - it was just never met. BVB stood firm and won the battle of nerves. And all because Sancho trusted his employers.
"We already had a gentlemen's agreement with Jadon last year that he can switch under certain conditions," Dortmund chief Michael Zorc told the media. Perhaps United should've seen it coming: the precocious Sancho was never one for getting agitated and he apparently saw the Red Devils' weak offers as them just not wanting him enough.
The Camberwell-born winger stayed put until Dortmund dropped their asking price and accepted a bid that suited them - just as Zorc had promised. It's a testament to how clubs can build good relationships with their stars - but with Sancho now at Old Trafford, it's hard to see any long-term losers in the whole scenario.
7. Roy Keane and Blackburn Rovers
"I felt bad because I had kind of agreed to go to Blackburn," Roy Keane said about his transfer away from relegated Nottingham Forest in 1993, as the Premier League was dawning. And if you make that bad-tempered, no-nonsense grump feel bad, you've probably done something pretty shoddy.
Sure enough, Sir Alex Ferguson had been up to wily games. Keano had shook hands on a deal with Blackburn Rovers boss Kenny Dalglish but since it wasn't in ink, Fergie picked up the midfielder from the airport, took him home and charmed him over a game of snooker.
Dalglish was spitting blood. He would've confirmed the irascible Irishman there and then on the Friday but for an admin error with the paperwork and the office being locked up over the weekend. He'd agreed with Keane to complete the move on the Monday morning... but by the time he'd clicked his pen ready to sign him at the start of a new week, Manchester United had pulled off a British transfer record.
"Nobody does this to me, nobody does this to Kenny Dalglish," the Rovers boss raged at Fergie, like a beaten Joker warning Batman. Countless titles and a Champions League later, Keane had no regrets about the episode.
8. Luka Modric and... Tottenham
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It was apparently in the idyllic Dubrovnik that Daniel Levy was more than happy to agree to Croatian creator Luka Modric's ideas of how his career would play out. But when Chelsea became suitably curious in acquiring the Tottenham star, Levy slammed the door shut.
"If a bigger club came in with a concrete offer, we would consider it and agree the best solution for all concerned," Modric said of the conversation. "Now Levy doesn’t want to talk to me and said there is no possibility that I can leave Spurs. He threatened me. He said if I didn’t accept the club’s stance, they would make me sit on the bench or in the stands."
Modric had to wait another 12 months to go, only it was Real Madrid that plucked up the money to free him from White Hart Lane. Just like Kane, Modric had signed a six-year deal in North London. Just like Kane, Modric was in no position to bargain. Daniel Levy: that's how he gets you.
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Mark White has been at on FourFourTwo since joining in January 2020, first as a staff writer before becoming content editor in 2023. An encyclopedia of football shirts and boots knowledge – both past and present – Mark has also represented FFT at both FA Cup and League Cup finals (though didn't receive a winners' medal on either occasion) and has written pieces for the mag ranging on subjects from Bobby Robson's season at Barcelona to Robinho's career. He has written cover features for the mag on Mikel Arteta and Martin Odegaard, and is assisted by his cat, Rosie, who has interned for the brand since lockdown.
