Manchester City have reportedly offered £100 million plus players for Tottenham striker Harry Kane, but the north London club will not accept the bid.
The England striker is City’s top target for the summer transfer window as they look for a replacement for Barcelona-bound Sergio Aguero.
The Guardian reports that the Etihad club’s opening bid involves a £100 million transfer fee and the opportunity to discuss a player exchange.
However, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy will reject the approach as he’s determined to keep hold of Kane, despite the 27-year-old saying he wants to leave.
This will be one of the transfer sagas of the summer, especially if Levy sticks to his guns in his determination to keep hold of his star man.
Kane is currently at Euro 2020 with England, where he has faced criticism for his performances in the narrow win over Croatia and draw with Scotland.
Those displays inevitably led to debate over whether the Spurs man is distracted by the uncertainty over his future, with City showing interest and Tottenham yet to even appoint a new manager.
The London club sacked Jose Mourinho on April 19 but are yet to name a successor, having talked to Antonio Conte, Paulo Fonseca and Gennaro Gattuso to no avail.
It’s not exactly a situation that will fill Kane with optimism for the future, but the Three Lions skipper has another three years left on his Spurs contract, putting Levy in a strong position.
That said, City’s offer must be tempting. It’s a massive fee. Kane would only be the sixth player ever to be sold for a nine-figure sum and it would make him the most expensive signing in Premier League history, surpassing Manchester United’s £89m capture of Paul Pogba from Juventus in 2016.
That’s before we even mention that this comes at a time when most clubs are struggling financially.
There is no mention in the report of which players City might offer alongside the cash as a sweetener, but the depth of quality in Pep Guardiola’s squad means they are unlikely to be hopeless.
This story will roll on for a while yet – it will be fascinating to see how long Levy holds out.
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