It would have been the third-biggest transfer in football history, but there was something decidedly low-key about the way Harry Kane called it off. Kane tweeted that he would be staying at Tottenham shortly before Nuno Espirito Santo gave his press conference ahead of Spurs’ Europa Conference League qualification play-off second leg against Pacos de Ferreira. He had already told Nuno on Wednesday morning that he would stay, finally drawing a line under an interminable saga.
For all of the energy and attention that this story has commanded, no one should be too surprised by the result. And the situation we are left with is that things are almost precisely as they were at the end of last season: Kane still plays for Spurs and is still contracted until 2024. Manchester City are still without an experienced striker, following Sergio Aguero’s free-agent departure for Barcelona. Daniel Levy still calls the shots at Tottenham.
Months of talk have barely moved the situation at all. But the basic facts of the saga are as follows:
Levy was furious with the way Kane tried to bounce him into the move at the end of last season
City offered five players in May and £75 million plus £25million of add-ons in June, then made no further bids
They were prepared to pay a fixed £100 million plus £20-or-so million in add-ons, but Levy refused to negotiate
Spurs fined Kane two weeks’ wages for delaying his return to pre-season training
With the two clubs not talking since late July, the move had been dead for weeks despite Kane’s hopes
All three parties need to agree for any transfer to happen but the simple story of this non-deal is that there was never enough political will to get it over the line.
