DANNY MURPHY: Harry Kane has stayed a year or two longer than others would have done at Tottenham – now it’s time for him to join one of Chelsea, Man City or United so he can play with a better group of players and improve his chances of winning medals
Harry Kane will be in demand from both of Saturday night’s Champions League finalists and I think it will be impossible for Tottenham to keep him.
That does not mean chairman Daniel Levy will not fight hard to get a big transfer fee and it may be the end of the window before everything is worked out, but whenever it happens, I believe ultimately a deal will be done.
It could resemble the type of chess game we have seen before at Spurs with Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick, Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and Robbie Keane. Though Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel will want Kane in the door as soon as possible, none of the clubs courting the England captain will want to accept Levy’s valuation immediately.
Harry Kane has to leave Tottenham this summer to maximise his chances of winning silverware
It is rare to see many deals of this magnitude being done seamlessly. But Kane will get his wish to move on and boost his trophy chances. Tottenham will not want to be left with a depreciating asset who is unhappy, frustrated and possibly angry.
Letting him leave to pursue his ambitions is not about bowing to player power, it is showing respect for someone who has given the club everything.
The reaction of Tottenham fans towards Kane after the final home game against Aston Villa showed they understand his situation. He has stayed a year or two longer than others would have done, though Levy is probably cursing the current financial situation due to the pandemic because the price has possibly fallen from £150million to £100m.
At City, Chelsea or even United, despite their Europa League final disappointment, Kane will be playing with a better group of players than he has done at Spurs and that naturally improves his chances of winning medals.
Of that group, City gives him the best and quickest opportunity next season. They are odds-on to win the Premier League again for a reason. Kane will turn 28 in a couple of months so he will want to minimise the risk of missing out. And the prospect of working alongside Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez must be appealing.
The only caveat is if Kane’s motivation went beyond silverware. Virgil van Dijk chose Liverpool above City because he understood by helping them win a title, he would become a legend. Likewise, if Kane wins the league at City, or collects cups with Chelsea, it would not be because of him. But if he is the final piece in the jigsaw at Manchester United and they become champions for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson, he would have created a legacy.
As for City and Chelsea, it was significant that neither side selected a natural centre forward in their starting line-up for the final in Porto while Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero and Olivier Giroud were on the bench and Tammy Abraham was left out altogether.
It showed why those clubs would view Kane as a huge upgrade. It is up to Kane of course to decide his priorities. But Spurs will have to be realistic and let him leave the nest.
