REPORT: Kane will agree to stay at Tottenham if resolution not found by Premier League start

Yesterday, as we all know, was the so-called Big Meeting™ between Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy and Bayern Munich over the future of Harry Kane. Nothing was agreed in that meeting, and depending on which report you read the offer was either slightly improved or the exact same £80m all-inclusive offer they made the last time.

Now we’re starting to get follow-up reporting after the meeting in London. First up is Dan Kilpatrick in the Evening Standard who reports that Kane will rule out leaving Tottenham if a resolution is not found between Spurs and Bayern before the first match of the new Premier League season in two weeks. He couches it as it being “unfair” to the club and to Ange Postecoglou to continue to drag this out to the end of the summer.

At first blush, this sounds like a positive thing. I’m not so sure that it actually is — in fact it has the feel of something like a pressure campaign from Kane’s camp to force the issue on Kane’s timetable. Think of it this way — Kane’s best play, objectively, is to refuse to move at all and leave on a free transfer next summer. If I weren’t a Spurs fan, that’s probably what I’d do if I were him.

That’s also, at least from a business side, the worst possible scenario for Spurs because it leaves a LOT of money on the table, while it also removes any chance for them to guide where Kane goes next. And Kilpatrick also implies that Kane deciding he won’t go anywhere might not stop the club from trying to find a resolution before the window closes on September 1

So think of this as Kane gently implementing a two week deadline starting now — get your crap together with Bayern or I’ll leave on a free next summer.

There’s also this interesting tidbit from Kilpatrick:

If he does stay put this summer, Kane is prepared to negotiate a contract extension with the club during the early months of the upcoming season if they show significant progress on the pitch under Postecoglou.

He would, though, be free to sign a pre-contract agreement with an overseas club in January or walk away for free next summer if he does not sign a new Spurs deal.

Again — that sounds good! But that’s a huge gamble for the club to take when there’s Bayern Munich right there who might be persuaded to offer something close to Tottenham’s valuation for Kane right now.

And speaking of Bayern, there’s also news from the Munich camp courtesy of our good pal Florian Plettenberg.

€95m (£81m) seems like an improvement, until you realize that this is the full package including add-ons, some of which potentially might not be met. Then it becomes a lot less appealing. Recall that Spurs are holding out for at least £100m (€116m) and this becomes just another underbid from a club that should probably know better by now.

I’m so tired of writing about this. When’s the Shakhtar friendly? ... Oh, not until Sunday. Great.