Manchester City believe they can sign Tottenham’s Harry Kane this summer despite his daunting £150million price-tag – and feel they can offset the cost by selling at least one of their big name players.
The England captain’s future at Spurs is in doubt after he informed his boyhood club of his wish to leave north London this summer following their failure to win a trophy or qualify for the Champions League, and City have emerged as the front-runners to sign him.
City are confident they can still land both Kane and Aston Villa star Jack Grealish, but with a difficult financial climate and financial fair play coming into the equation, they will need to rake in some cash from player sales.
Manchester City are hopeful of landing Tottenham’s star striker Harry Kane this summer
City believe they can sign both Kane and Jack Grealish but will have to offload fringe stars
Reports claimed on Thursday that Spurs chief Daniel Levy was ready to sanction a £160m move for Kane to City – which would see the striker earn £400,000 a week at the Etihad – in what would be a major U-turn, with Spurs having rejected a £100m bid last month.
Sportsmail understands nothing has changed from Tottenham’s perspective and they will not entertain any talks of a deal unless they receive a bid higher than their £150m asking price.
City will be looking at which players could be sold to ensure deals for both Kane and Grealish go through – and at least one big name could be heading out the door.
Bernardo Silva is a possible candidate for an exit, but interested clubs are struggling to stump up the cash for him. The Portugal international has a market value of around £63m.
Bernardo Silva could be one of the players City could sell but clubs are struggling with his fee
Kane, whose stock is high after his showing with England at the Euros, wants to leave Spurs
Manchester City had considered selling Raheem Sterling before Euro 2020, but his stunning displays at the tournament will have caused a rethink, while Riyad Mahrez has been linked with a move away but has reaffirmed his commitment to City.
City have already raised some cash from previous player sales and still have money coming in from Leroy Sane’s £55m transfer to Bayern Munich last year.
Pep Guardiola has allowed Angelino to join RB Leipzig permanently for £16.2m, while Leeds signed Jack Harrison for around £11m following a successful loan spell.
German youngster Lukas Nmecha also departed the Etihad last week, joining Bundesliga side Wolfsburg in an £11m deal to take City’s transfer income to over £38m this summer.
City’s bid to sign Kane looked to have taken a step forward after reports from The Sun claimed Levy had spoken to the player and his agent and brother Charlie to tell them he would consider selling to City.
Previously, Levy was thought to be adamant that he would only sell to another club in Europe to prevent strengthening a Premier League rival.
The Sun claim Daniel Levy has granted permission for Kane to join a Premier League rival
The report adds the length of Kane’s deal at City has yet to be decided but that it will either run for four or five seasons.
New Spurs boss Nuno Espirito Santo revealed last week he was confident Kane would be committed to the cause, but the 27-year-old has regularly dropped hints that his future lies elsewhere and admitted in May that he hopes to have a ‘honest conversation’ with Levy.
‘I think it’s definitely a conversation to be had with the club,’ he told Gary Neville for the YouTube channel The Overlap. ‘I want to be playing in the biggest games. The biggest moments.
‘Like, this season I’m there watching the Champions League, watching the English teams in there doing amazing.
Kane has always insisted that he wants to compete at the highest level and admitted he wants to have an ‘honest conversation’ with Levy
‘They are the games that I want to be involved in. I want to be in them games.
‘So for sure, it’s a moment in my career where I have to kind of reflect and see where I’m at and have a good, honest conversation with the chairman. I hope that we can have that conversation.’
New Spurs director of football Fabio Paratici was keen to rebuild a team around Kane, who has been left frustrated by a turbulent campaign.
Tottenham quickly fell away from the title race, lost the Carabao Cup final against City, were dumped out of the Europa League by Dinamo Zagreb and failed to secure a place in the top four again.
A move to City would see Kane link up with England team-mate Raheem Sterling at the Etihad
He switched his attentions to England this summer as he starred for the Three Lions at Euro 2020 by netting four times and leading them to the final, where they lost to Italy on penalties, and he will be hungry to get even closer to silverware.
Should he join City, it would reunite him with England team-mates Kyle Walker, John Stones, Phil Foden and Sterling – who he linked up so well with on the national stage.
The report from The Sun suggests City could tempt Tottenham by selling under-performing striker Gabriel Jesus to sweeten the deal.
With long-serving Sergio Aguero joining Barcelona, the club are on the hunt for a world class striker who can lead them to further honours.