It’s unquestionably the biggest transfer saga of the summer transfer window not including anybody named Lionel Messi.
Will Harry Kane join Manchester City, or will he remain with Tottenham?
Few anticipated it would have ever reached this stage with Kane rarely breaking ranks or causing any off-field drama throughout his entire career.
But within weeks left of last season’s Premier League campaign, reports emerged that the Spurs talisman had made it clear he wished to leave the club.
Three months on from those first shockwave claims, the situation remains the same.
Spurs don’t want to sell and City have failed to put up the kind of cash it would take to change their mind. Meanwhile Kane continues to push to join the Premier League champions
A star player wanting to leave a club is hardly a unique situation, but what is more unusual is the fact that player is represented by his brother.
Charlie Kane has spent as much time in the headlines this summer as his more well-known brother - but we still know very little about the man attempting to broker the biggest deal in British football history.
Background
While many of the game’s biggest stars are represented by the likes of Jorge Mendes, Mino Raiola or Kia Joorabchian, Harry Kane decided to keep it in-house, enlisting the help of his elder brother.
The owner of sports management business CK66 sounds an impressive title, but currently Charlie’s firm represents one client and one client only.
On their website, CK66 boast at being experts, in contracts (more on that later), commercial, financial and legal, media and lifestyle.
The site is adorned with photographs of their most famous - and only - client along with some of the brands they have helped him link-up with.
Their mission statement reads: “CK66 offer end to end management of professional sporting talent.
“Behind every great talent is a team of individuals supporting their success both in and outside of the game.
“We pride ourselves on providing a tailored service to manage all aspects of professional sporting life.”
How did we get here?
An expert in contracts, just three years ago, CK66 set Kane up with a six-year contract tying him to his boyhood club until at least 2024.
It looked naively long then and now, still three years away from that end date, with few ways of getting out of it without things turning ugly, it looks even more so.
There has been claims of a ‘gentleman’s agreement’, but that is all completely hypothetical unless City actually put up the money of course; Daniel Levy will only sell when his valuation is met.
Harry signed that deal off the back of a third place finish in the Premier League, with Mauricio Pochettino guiding the most exciting Spurs team of a generation.
Fast forward 36 months and the club is in a very different guise, but that pesky contract means unless City pay up, he will honour it.
Charlie’s chats
The saga took a twist in the height of summer when a story in the Sun emerged from Charlie’s wedding that his client was poised to sign for City.
According to the report, Pep Guardiola’s side had launched a £160m bid with chairman Daniel Levy happy to sell.
If that was a go at brinkmanship, it appeared a misguided one, with all parties quickly dismissing the claims.
Within the story a club source had reportedly said: “Harry and Charlie got the call at the end of last week.
“Obviously Harry was delighted because he never wanted to leave Spurs, his beloved boyhood club, on bad terms.”
Unfortunately, the leak probably had the opposite effect.
Where are we now?
According to various reports , Harry has now hired a new PR firm to deal with his briefings and brother Charlie will ‘take a back seat’ in ongoing negotiations.
Whether that truly is the case remains to be seen, but it has certainly been a week of damage limitation for a player that just six months ago was untouchable amongst his own supporters.
‘Are you watching Harry Kane?’ rang around the Spurs’ stadium as they ironically beat Manchester City on the opening day.
There’s a very good chance he was and the narrative has quickly shifted to a point he will happily remain with the club should an offer not come in.
