HERE I AM, ROCK YOU LIKE A …
Over in Germany, there’s a coterie of middle-aged men carrying the first name of Kevin. But you’d be hard pressed to find a German Kevin born before 1977. The name only started appearing at the local Standesamt once Kevin Keegan joined Hamburg from Liverpool to start taking the Bundesliga by storm.
These were King Kev’s “Mighty Mouse”, heroically tight-permed, head-over-heels, Brut-slapping golden years, long before he was defending the honour of “a man like Stuart Pearce” or resigning the England job in the old Wembley toilets. And perhaps one day, should the latest twist in the annual to-do about Tottenham’s star striker conclude with him actually joining Bayern Munich, Germany will be full of young men called “Harry”.
Previous Harrys have never quite caught the imagination of Deutsche mums and dads, from S Truman to the erstwhile podcast host/prince who is second son of England’s King Charles. Secombe never got to take Highway across the North Sea. There’s still time for Maguire to establish himself as a cult hero while young Styles, of One Direction fame, is playing Eintracht Frankfurt’s stadium twice next week, though tickets remain on sale.
The word is that Harry Kane, for it is he, rather fancies a move to Munich to play for Bayern. And with an initial bid of £60m on the table, Bayern want this to happen too. A rumour that floated for much of last season has come to pass with actual folding money wafted in the direction of Daniel Levy. Now, Levy’s next move at this point is widely expected to be his usual one, to ignore any approach for his star man. Many will wince at a similar saga two years ago, with Manchester City involved, and Kane’s brother Charlie briefly becoming one of the most inadvertently famous people in Britain. Was there another last year? Football Daily has honestly lost count.
Simply put, Bayern, without a proper striker since Robert Lewandowski departed for Barcelona, want the use of someone who remained excellent last season while the club around him went into the type of volcanic meltdown likely to happen when Antonio Conte is dissatisfied. Kane, it is suggested, has had enough of carrying Spurs, and while he would like to break Alan Shearer’s 260-goal Premier League mark, that’s always there for later. He’d like to collect some silverware too.
In Germany, Kane would get a warm welcome. Keegan has never been forgotten in Germany, nor has Tony Woodcock, the Nottinghamshire lad who moved to Cologne in 1979 and still speaks with a German twang. Alan “Rambo” McInally remains a cult hero at Bayern, despite an injury-ruined spell, and Mark Hughes was also popular at FC Hollywood. That’s before younger and more recent emigres such as Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho are considered. Tottenham’s pain could be the name of Harry’s gain. The problem, as ever, is getting Daniel to answer.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I got asked on Saturday when we won the FA Cup if I was going on a three-day bender, but I was back in work on Monday – that was the biggest reality shock. Someone put out a post saying, ‘It’s the one-legged Jack Grealish’ – I wanted to reply saying, ‘No, he’s the two-legged Rhyce Ramsden’” – England and Everton midfielder Rhyce Ramsden on comparisons with the partying playmaker after his match-winning display in the Disability Cup final.
MOVING THE GOALPOSTS
In our sister newsletter this week: Marta is the all-time top scorer at the Women’s World Cup, and the 37-year-old will seek more goals in Australia and New Zealand this summer. But how will her Brazil team perform? Julia Bélas takes a look.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
“You’ll be pleased to know I only just discovered that The Fiver was renamed Football Daily … some seven months ago! I’ve been a subscriber since 2010, here’s to many more years of receiving a daily email I invariably ignore” – Matt Coleman.
“Did anyone else notice the Barcelona shirt given to Ilkay Gündogan at his unveiling looked about three sizes too big for him? Perhaps we’ll get a novel Catalan twist on the old terrace chant, proclaiming ‘you’re too fit to wear the shirt’” – Justin Kavanagh.
“Amusing news from north o’ the border: an Elgin City director has resigned and withdrawn his sponsorship after a fellow board member, not realising he was copied in to the email chain, said he could stick his money up his ar$e” – Craig Kennedy.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our letter o’ the day is … Craig Kennedy, who bags our final copy of Against All Odds: the Greatest World Cup Upsets.
This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
