Tottenham want £100m up front for Harry Kane

There’s a lot of chaos and instability swirling around Tottenham Hotspur at the moment, but for once we’re not talking about Antonio Conte’s managerial tenure. One of the big pieces that needs to be decided yet is the future of Harry Kane, who is heading into the final year of his Spurs contract and who is reportedly deciding on his future.

Spurs are reportedly planning on entering into negotiations to try and sign Kane, 29, to a new contract at the end of this season. It’s not clear whether that’s something that Harry wants to do anymore, considering the impending end of the Conte Era and the big questions that hover over the club’s own future. But while Harry has a big say in what happens to him, so does the club. According to the Times of London, the club is saying that if Manchester United or any other club wants their homegrown world-class striker, they’re going to have to pay up front for him.

Gary Jacobs writes that Spurs would not sanction a sale of Kane to any club, especially not a domestic one, for anything less than £100m, and that £100m is going to have to be all up front. No down payments, no amortization, no clauses. Straight cash, homie.

Now, announcing this as a condition of sale is both a warning to Manchester United (or any other interested club) and also, likely, a signal that Daniel Levy is at least open to some negotiation. Levy clearly doesn’t want to sell Kane to United or anyone, but the club’s leverage has gone down significantly since Kane went golfing with Gary Neville a couple of years ago.

There’s a very real possibility that Kane decides not to sign an extension, the club doesn’t sell him this summer, and Kane ends up leaving the club on a free transfer at the end of next season. That’d be probably the worst possible scenario from a Spurs-centric angle, but it exists. However, that doesn’t mean that Spurs are going to allow themselves to be taken to the cleaners for their record-setting generational homegrown striker.

Would United pay it? I dunno. Probably not under the Glazers, but if there’s a new owner that either has bottomless resources or just wants to collect human trophies for its team? Could be. I’m on the fence as to whether I actually want to sell Kane or not, but either way, £100m up front would certainly go a long way towards the inevitable and desperately needed rebuild at the club.