June 08, (THEWILL)- English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur are not having the ideal summer that their club Chairman, Daniel Levy, planned out for them to be having by this time. The plans to get Serie A title-winning manager Antonio Conte did not pan out and as a consequence, other parts of the grand scheme are not sticking together.
One basis of bringing in the established tactician and proven winner was to keep the talent of clinical forward Harry Kane in the north London side after the player clearly indicated his interest to leave Spurs to win trophies elsewhere with his goal-scoring, which had not brought him the expected silverware.
Yet, with the Conte pursuit dead, Levy has not given up on his goal of keeping his star. He acknowledges the interests of rival London side and UEFA Champions League winners Chelsea and other EPL teams desiring to rid him of the English striker but is determined to fight them off.
One way he is bent on achieving that is to tighten the screw around the possibility of losing Kane and knowing that clubs may want to barter, Levy was adamant in warning any teams interested in Kane that he will not pick up the phone to any team proposing a player swap in the transfer season.
It is all part of the chairman’s overall reluctance to grant Kane’s exit wish this summer. It comes bundled with the fact that Levy is employing an overpricing gambit to discourage potential suitors. He slammed a £150m price tag on Kane, which he knows would be hard for any team to reach in a normal summer, let alone in a COVID-ravaged market as today’s.
His outlawing swap deals come from the knowledge that big sides as Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, who have indicated some interest in the England captain had been exploring ways to include players in their bids to drive that asking price down.
It is Only tightening the screw on competing teams wishing to grab the willing Kane that Levy is insisting he will reject any team’s unwanted players as part of a bid and sticking to the full sum of £150m or Kane stays while he tries to put Spurs back in order to become competitive enough to actually win something.
But, the sheer difficulty of the work involved in rebuilding is not encouraging and was reported to be part of the reason Conte refused to take up the role as club manager. That is why he has put his foot down to refuse onloading rejects from other clubs so that if Kane must leave, he must do so at a cost that will furnish the rebuilding process at the Spurs’ squad.
Ideally, the chairman will love for Kane to remain and prove that there is the possibility of winning trophies with the 27-year-old in the side than of he goes. Levy is not ready to cash in on the striker now, but to see his dedication to the club be rewarded with the lifting of one trophy or the other. Yet, if Kane does not think staying will help his trophy goals, they will need to find a side ready to cough up Levy’s asking price of a £150m in cash.
Only then will the odds favour a move out of north London for the highest goal scorer of the season.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
