Harry Kane to Manchester United transfer: ‘Deserves better’ claim, £90m reported fee, Spurs future verdict

In the wake of the dismal dismantling Spurs endured at St. James’ Park, Harry Kane’s former team-mate Danny Rose said on Sky Sports: “I can imagine him just being sat there thinking - I deserve better than this.”

Rose would know better than most how Kane might view his future prospects. There is immense uncertainty surrounding the club’s future direction, and at 29 years old and with one year left on his current contract, there won’t be many more opportunities for the England captain to jump ship for one of Europe’s elite sides.

If he was in two minds about whether to depart Tottenham Hotspur this summer, Sunday’s dreadful defeat to Newcastle United might have offered a little clarity. As rumours swirl about a move to Manchester United – with a reported price tag of around £90m – and lucrative new offers from abroad emerge, the England captain will surely be tempted to move on in search of the silverware that has eluded him so far. Let’s look at the three clubs who have been most firmly linked with the Premier League’s record goalscorer, and what the press and pundits are saying about each of the supposed options:

Manchester United

Many reports, both at home and overseas, have suggested that Kane’s preference is to remain in England. Given his price tag and the likelihood that he would only relinquish his status as a Spurs legend for guaranteed Champions League football, Manchester United are the one realistic option for him in the Premier League.

They have been repeatedly linked with a move for Kane and will have the money to make a big-money move happen – although any rumours linking Manchester United with major incomings are inevitably complicated by the ongoing sale of the club. If Jim Radcliffe or Sheikh Jassim take the reins at Old Trafford, they may have other priorities.

There is also a big question mark over whether Spurs chairman Daniel Levy would allow Kane to move to a Premier League rival for any sensible transfer fee. Levy played hardball with Manchester City over a reported transfer in the past, and there is no reason to think he will have changed his approach as another contract gradually runs down.

Sky Sports pundit and former England defender Jamie Carragher took to Twitter to say he thinks that Levy would refuse to sanction the move – and that Kane will end up staying put:

Another opinion was offered by former Newcastle United and England winger Kieron Dyer on Sky Sports: “Everyone [is] talking about Shearer not going to Man United and the trophies he could have won.

“But he’s got a statue outside the stadium which probably means more to him being a local lad. Harry’s got the chance of that but after seeing that today, how the club is run, Daniel Levy and the manager situation, I can totally understand why Harry Kane would want to leave the football club.”

Paris Saint-Germain

If a move to Manchester fails to materialise, Kane may well have offers from overseas. PSG have shown interest in Kane before, during the transfer saga of 2021, and Le Parisien have recently reported that Kane is at “the very top” of their transfer list for the upcoming off-season.

If you want a truly terrible take on the matter, former Scotland international Frank McAvennie ventured this vacuum of insight to Football Insider: “They’ve got Mbappé, Neymar and Messi, I do not know where Harry would fit into that system.

“I do not think he is the kind of player that can do the tippy tappy stuff. We saw at the World Cup that that is not his game.”

Never mind that PSG don’t play anything resembling “tippy tappy stuff” - which he presumably thinks is the default setting for all continental sides - McAvennie also seems blissfully ignorant of the ongoing situation with Lionel Messi, whose contract in Paris is up and who is heavily linked with either a return to Barcelona or a lucrative retirement package in Saudi Arabia. Should the Argentinian stay with the French champions elect, Kane would likely be off the menu, so at least McAvennie is in the right ballpark there – but if Messi does depart, they will have a yawning gap in the centre of their strikeforce to fill.

They certainly have the cold hard cash to make it work, and would almost guarantee at least some volume of silverware – as well as an absolutely colossal contract offer. If Kane is motivated by money, he would get what he wants in spades.

Bayern Munich

The final club reported to be keeping close tabs on Kane’s future are German repeat champions Bayern Munich. German tabloid Bild, however, feel that Kane isn’t keen on a move outside of the Premier League – claiming that “Bayern received feedback that the Tottenham star preferred to stay on the island”.

Doubts have also been cast over the move by Bayern legend Lothar Matthäus, who now works as a pundit in his homeland. He described the Spurs forward as "too old and expensive", and it’s certainly true that the Bavarian club rarely open their purse strings too widely, and typically target players in a younger age bracket. A move for Kane would smash their existing transfer record - £68m for Matthijs de Ligt – into pieces.

The 3 Added Minutes Verdict

It’s easy to see why Kane might want to move on. He likely has a handful of years left at his prime, and the window to start construction on a trophy cabinet in his north London home will only remain open for so long. Add to that the absence of a clear future direction for Spurs, and the temptations of a truly astronomical wage packet, and it would take exceptional loyalty for Kane to turn a transfer down.

But all reports suggest he would prefer to stay in the Premier League. He is the first player in years with a realistic chance of breaking Alan Shearer’s all-time goalscoring record of 260 and has a young family in the capital. Bayern Munich probably won’t stump up the cash, whatever the papers say, and that leaves two options – one of which may be taken away from him if either Levy or Manchester United’s future owner decide to pull the plug, and another which depends heavily on the decision made by Messi.

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Carragher is right in his assessment of the saga – the most likely outcome is that Kane remains at Tottenham next season. The larger question is whether he agrees to sign a new contract and cement his status as a club legend, and go after that statue – or whether he chooses to run his deal down and seek a free transfer next summer. If it’s the latter, he would be able to bet on a big bidding war without Levy’s involvement. If it’s the former, it may just prove that romance isn’t quite dead, and that one-club men can still exist at the very highest level – and his love for the club is genuine enough to make seeing out his career with Spurs a very real possibility.