Bayern Munich are poised to make their next push to sign Harry Kane, with two of their top executives flying to London on Friday for talks with the Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy. The situation is complicated, though, for the German club by the fact Paris Saint-Germain are still there for Kane and willing to outbid anybody for him.
It is a strange set of circumstances because Kane has no wish to join PSG. The England captain, who has one year on his contract, wants to go to Bayern if he is allowed to leave this summer. But PSG’s presence stands to create a market for Kane, even if it is a slightly artificial one, which Levy will surely leverage.
PSG are looking to sign a striker as uncertainty clings to the future of their star player, Kylian Mbappé. He is out of contract next summer and is refusing to sign a new deal. Levy enjoys a good relationship with the PSG president, Nasser al-Khelaifi.
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The Bayern delegation to London will comprise the chief executive, Jan-Christian Dreesen, and the technical director, Marco Neppe. They stayed in Munich earlier in the week when the Bayern squad flew to Japan for the start of their Asia tour, the idea being that they would work on the Kane deal, among others.
Dreesen met Levy in London two weeks ago and it is significant that there is an open channel of communication between them with regard to Kane. Levy flew back to London with the Spurs squad after the team’s 5-1 friendly win over Lion City Sailors in Singapore on Wednesday – the last game of the club’s Asia-Pacific tour. Kane scored one of the goals, with Richarlison getting a hat-trick and Giovani Lo Celso the other.
Bayern have had an opening offer of €70m (£60m) plus add-ons for Kane dismissed out of hand and have subsequently floated €80m plus add-ons. Again, that would get nowhere near to moving Levy.
Bayern will not be held to ransom for Kane. They are believed to be ready to offer €100m, which would shatter their previous record outlay – the €80m they paid to take Lucas Hernández from Atlético Madrid in 2019. It is unclear whether that would be enough. And, as repeatedly stated, we are still only in July.
Bayern are convinced that they have the will of the player to join them. Their honorary president, Uli Hoeness, said so this month. They would even back themselves to get Kane next summer as a free agent if a fee could not be agreed for him during this window.
Kane is desperate to win team silverware and sees Bayern as a route to that end. They have won 11 Bundesliga titles in a row and usually have a shot at the Champions League. Moreover, it would be a cleaner and less confrontational move for Kane than moving to a domestic rival.
An interesting question for Kane would be how he felt about reducing his chances of breaking Alan Shearer’s Premier League goalscoring record of 260, even if that is a slightly confected mark. Shearer scored 13 times for Southampton in the old First Division the season before the Premier League’s inception in 1992. Does Kane’s desire for team honours override everything? He has 213 Premier League goals.
The Guardian reported on 5 July that Kane had zero intention of signing a new contract at Spurs while the summer window remained open; the club have offered him a massive new deal, significantly improving his basic £200,00-a-week terms.
And so Levy, who is desperate to keep Kane, must do his sums and weigh up the risks . A big part of it is how much value he places on getting one last season out of the player, which could be offset against the potential loss of a transfer fee. For example, if Kane could help to fire Spurs back into the Champions League, it would trigger a sizeable windfall.
Clubs who reached the last 16 of last season’s competition earned roughly £29m in prize money, plus further income, notably from television and gate receipts. It is also worth remembering that a top-five Premier League finish would likely bring qualification to the revamped 2024-25 Champions League.
