Harry Kane is finally set to complete his move to Bayern Munich today despite late negotiations with Tottenham Hotspur about the exact make-up of the fee.
After a dramatic few hours on Friday that saw the England captain held at Stansted airport, waiting in a car for the green light to make the trip to Munich, Kane was finally signing the paperwork on a £120m deal at 2am German time.
Kane and Bayern Munich are now aiming for him to start in Saturday’s German Super Cup against Leipzig.
It would mark a sudden turnaround to a long and drawn-out affair, that still had some doubt about it up to late Friday afternoon.
Bayern and Tottenham Hotspur were still negotiating the terms of the deal at that point, but Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has ultimately got the deal he wanted.
That is a package potentially rising to £120m with add-ons, with £105m guaranteed, and £86m up front.
Kane always had permission to travel to Munich once it was granted, but the re-negotiation caused some delay in the transfer.
The 30-year-old will now wear the number-nine shirt for Bayern, following in the line of Gerd Muller, Jurgen Klinsmann and the player he most directly replaces in Robert Lewandowski,
Kane was due to enter the final year of his Tottenham contract, meaning he would be free to leave for nothing in 12 months’ time.
The England striker had looked to have been keen to stay in the Premier League, where he is closing in on Alan Shearer’s all-time scoring record of 260.
Kane has scored 213 Premier League goals since making his Spurs debut in 2012.
Kane had reportedly been keen to stay in England in order to pursue Alan Shearer’s all-time Premier League scoring record of 260.
Spurs supporters had urged Kane to stay during Sunday’s 5-1 friendly win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
The club kick-off their Premier League campaign away to Brentford on Sunday under new manager Ange Postecoglou, who said on Friday that he thought Kane’s move was “imminent”.
Harry Kane scored four goals in a friendly win against Shakhtar Donetsk last weekend— (Getty Images)
“[It is] fair to say I don’t have a blow by blow account but my understanding is it has progressed to the point where it looks like it will happen,” Postecoglou said. “From that perspective, at least it gives us some clarity and we move forward without Harry.
“From my perspective it is just about understanding where we are at and the information I have at the moment is the deal is imminent but like with all these things, you leave yourself some leeway.
“But moving forward and training today preparing for Brentford, we are doing it without Harry.
“It is best Harry speaks for himself in terms of the decision but no doubt he is one of the greats of this football club and that never changes. I am only new in the building but fairly evident Harry Kane will always be one of the greats for this football club.”
Kane surpassed Jimmy Greaves as Tottenham’s all-time leading goalscorer earlier this year.
