Have Real Madrid admitted defeat in their pursuit of Harry Kane?

Tottenham Hotspur know what they have in English International striker Harry Kane. They have a man who is the first to beat out Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for the European Golden Boot in a calendar year for several seasons. They have a player who is homegrown, one of their own, and who looks as happy and comfortable as he can be in north London.

Of course, because it’s Tottenham and the universe decides sometimes that we can’t have nice things, we have to deal with the constant rumor swirling week in and week out around the top players in the squad. Kane, being the most coveted of all of them, is the one guy who might crush everyone’s hearts if he were to ever leave.

The good news is that it appears the biggest suitor out there, Real Madrid, have given up. This is according to Miguel Delaney over at The Independent.

Real Madrid are considering a move for Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski in the summer, such is the difficulty involved in signing top striker target Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur.

The European champions plan an overhaul of their attack at the end of the season, and are looking to reshape the famous ‘BBC’ of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo, and want to bring in primary objective Neymar, a goalscorer, and then a new goalkeeper.

President Florentino Perez has become enamoured with Kane and Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino but the difficulty of doing either deal has naturally seen him look to other options. He has long been a fan of Lewandowski, and even directly spoken with the Polish striker in the past.

All of this makes perfect sense in the transfer rumor world where up is usually down and Coke is actually Pepsi. Ronaldo is now 33 years old and this is the first season that he hasn’t looked like himself. Age could simply be catching up with the five time Ballon d’or winner. Karim Benzema was actually rumored to be on his way out last summer, but no move ever materialized for the 30-year-old French International. Gareth Bale, of course, was purchased from Spurs back in the summer of 2013 for a world record fee. Bale will turn 29 this summer and his missed 61 matches in his time at the Santiago Bernabeu. While Bale is reportedly happy in Madrid (and, honestly, who wouldn’t be making €300k/week there?), Perez knows that an overhaul is needed.

Perez’s problem has been our Bald Ninja Jedi himself, Daniel Levy. We have all heard the stories about Levy being the toughest negotiator out there, and there have been rumors that to even discuss Kane, the price tag starts at £300m. It’s basically Levy’s way of putting up a middle finger to the rest of Europe without saying anything. We know that Perez covets both Kane and possibly Pochettino as replacements, but with both set to sign new deals at the end of the season, it appears Levy has all the leverage and Perez is surrendering. Lewandowski, though, is a curious choice given that he’ll be 30 years old himself when next season starts up. It just goes to show you how priceless a young and potent striker truly is.

Now, if I may bring us back to reality for a moment: This is going to do absolutely nothing to kill the rumors when we hit the summer. Remember how many times we talked about getting THE on this site? As in THE STRIKER? Well, we now have THE striker and everyone else in the world wants him. A big contract at the end of the season for five years will keep everyone away for awhile.

Kane has said time and again that he is happy in London where he and his fiancee are raising a child with a second on the way. He loves the club and could genuinely be a one-club man for his career. We’re lucky to have him and hope that he never leaves.