Harry Kane‘s divorce from Tottenham Hotspur could yet turn acrimonious after it emerged that he was a no-show training on Monday morning.
The England captain was expected back at Hotspur Way following an extended post-Euros break but he was conspicuously absent as the rest of his teammates reported for duty under new manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
Manchester City remain keen on the striker, but it is understood they are hesitant to match Daniel Levy’s valuation of the three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner.
In the middle of all this sit the Kanes, both Harry and brother Charlie, who is both puppet-master and marionette all in one, desperately trying to engineer a move that would justify his agency.
Nuno has been understandably guarded about potentially losing his vice-captain. His only comments on the saga so far have resorted to ultimately meaningless platitudes. “He’s with us,”, “he’s our player,”, “he’s a Tottenham player”.
For how long, remains to be seen as City punt their title defence into the realms of the ridiculous. If Kane is to be part of a double-swoop alongside Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish – another “one club” man and boyhood fan of his current employers – perhaps all bets should already be off.
Even without Kane, Pep Guardiola’s side scored 10 goals more than the nearest competition Manchester United last season. With the now departed Sergio Aguero starting just seven league games and Gabriel Jesus often either sidelined or overlooked in favour of a false nine, much of City’s rampant dominance was achieved without a conventional striker.
How Man City could line up this season
Soon, they could arguably have the most complete centre-forward in the world to incorporate into an XI that has not always found room for Phil Foden or Raheem Sterling, let alone those who face uncertain futures like Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez.
Then there is the matter of Grealish, whom Gareth Southgate has quite possibly given a foretaste of the future in his battle for minutes with England. Yet even for Sheikh Mansour, spending £100m on a playmaker who will not start regularly seems out of the question.
That leaves Guardiola in the enviable position, as he insists is always necessary, of changing a winning formula and shaking up a squad which can ostensibly be improved only at the fine margins.
Sterling has enjoyed a standout international summer which holds him in good stead to win over his domestic manager, who has not shied away from calling him out publicly in the past for lacking consistency. The forward could occupy the right of a front three alongside Grealish and Kane, with Foden, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne propping up the trio from midfield.
The back four has seen various iterations under Guardiola, with Joao Cancelo and Ruben Dias arriving in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Guardiola’s real difficulty lies in who to offload, particularly as City try and barter with Levy in what could become a player-plus-cash offer for Kane.
In that case, Mahrez, Silva, and the likes of Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake could be used to tempt Tottenham. City will have one eye on their ongoing dispute with the Premier League over Financial Fair Play, which the club had asked the Court of Appeal to keep confidential. That plea was rejected.
Can you replace Harry Kane?
There is a certain symmetry about Erik Lamela’s departure coming last week, the last of the “Magnificent Seven” bought with the money from Gareth Bale’s move to Real Madrid. Lamela, Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli, Vlad Chiriches, Christian Eriksen, Paulinho and Etienne Capoue were all brought in to replace the Welshman, who ironically found himself back in north London, replacing himself, long after most of them had left.
In the same mould, Aston Villa are seemingly putting the Grealish money to good use, agreeing a deal with Bayer Leverkusen for Leon Bailey, signing Emi Buendia from Norwich for £38m, and monitoring the Argentine’s former teammate Todd Cantwell.
Spurs, characteristically, have been slower off the mark. Kane scored or assisted 37 of their 68 league goals last term and the stoic reality facing Levy is that he is totally irreplaceable.
Nonetheless, first on the list will be a new striker – Tottenham have long held an interest in Southampton’s Danny Ings – but the money could also be put to use strengthening other core areas.
Spurs are still in negotiations to sign Atalanta centre-back Cristian Romero and with Moussa Sissoko and Serge Aurier also expected to leave at some point this summer, a central midfielder and right-back are expected to be high on Nuno’s list.
Should there be any doubt about how appealing a prospect joining a Kane-less Tottenham might be, targets can at least be coaxed with the incentive of a trip to Northern Ireland or Portugal. They will play Larne or Pacos de Ferreira in the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3A1FJj8
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