With just three weeks to go until the start of the new season, the stand-off between Tottenham and Manchester over Harry Kane has begun.
Although Kane is almost certain to sign for City this summer, the Premier League champions have made it clear they will not be held to ransom over the England skipper.
Claims that Kane was set to move for a Premier League record fee of £160million were swiftly shot down by City, who insisted they would not countenance such an exorbitant fee.
Although City accept they will have to break the £100m barrier to land Kane this summer, it is understood they have put a ceiling of £120m on any offer for the 27-year-old forward.
City want to sign Kane for around £120m
(Image: PA)
To help fund their move for Kane, City will look to offload two high-profile players of their own, with Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus both set to be offloaded before the window shuts.
Although City are also keen to sign another England Euro 2020 star, Jack Grealish, from Aston Villa this summer, landing Kane looks set to be a prolonged and exhaustive process.
In a delicious irony, Spurs host City on August 15, on the opening weekend of the new Premier League season, by which time both clubs want Kane’s future to have been resolved.
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But with the two clubs still far apart in their valuations of one of the world’s most prolific strikers, the saga over Kane’s future may not be concluded before the start of the new campaign.
Kane is said to have told guests of his impending move to City at the wedding of his brother and agent Charlie last week, but the fee is the main hurdle to be cleared before any deal can be done.
Personal terms are not a problem, with City ready to hand Kane a five-year deal worth around £350,000-a-week, but negotiations over the fee involved could end up dragging on for weeks.
Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus are both set to depart City
(Image: REUTERS)
Is £120m too much for Harry Kane? Comment below.
Kane informed Tottenham of his desire to leave just before the end of last season, with City quickly emerging as the front-runners to sign the forward, who has 221 goals from 336 appearances for Spurs.
When City announced in March they were not going to offer record goalscorer Sergio Aguero a new deal, they had already begun the process of recruiting Kane as his replacement.
Guardiola famously and flippantly referred to Spurs as ‘the Harry Kane team’, provoking anger at Tottenham, but the glib remark underlined just how highly the City boss rates the forward.
Even though Guardiola has often played without a recognised striker, playing the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling as a ‘False Nine’, he knows Kane will guarantee City 20-plus goals a season.
In the last 10 years, Kane has averaged 23.2 goals a season, compared to 26 for Aguero, but with Kane arguably in the prime of his career, and with the formidable service he can expect at City from the likes of De Bruyne, that figure is certain to rise.
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