Harry Kane is open to seeing out his Tottenham deal as one of his options with interest in the England captain set to intensify this summer.
Kane has a season left on his current Spurs deal and running down into his final year will pile pressure on chairman Daniel Levy to decide whether to accept bids this summer. The 29-year-old will be able to speak to clubs about a pre-contract in January if he wants to move on a free transfer in summer 2024.
With one month left of the current campaign, clubs usually want the future of their important players with expiring contracts to be sorted but there has been no agreement on an extension.
As reported by Telegraph Sport this week, there are increasing doubts at Spurs over Kane signing a new deal. Kane is believed to be looking at all options, which will include running down his final 12 months at the club where he has played for 10 years and scored 274 goals.
Manchester United fans sang Kane’s name on Thursday during the 2-2 draw at Spurs, chanting “we’ll see you in June” during the first half. United have an interest in Kane as they look to bring in a striker this summer, although they are aware it would not be easy to strike a deal with Levy. They have started due diligence on what it would take to sign Kane this summer, acting early to give them time to go elsewhere if negotiations get dragged out to the August 31 transfer deadline.
A notoriously tough negotiator, Levy would be expected to maximize the fee for the player having resisted selling him to Manchester City two years ago when Kane made it clear he wanted to leave during an interview with Gary Neville. At that point, Kane had three years left on his deal and there was no threat of losing him for nothing.
United want to head into next season with a new striker – ideally before their pre-season tour in the USA starts – and would want to avoid a drawn-out transfer saga, with Kane one of a clutch of strikers they will consider. Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have monitored Kane’s situation but are aware that he has the Premier League goalscoring record within his reach.
While Kane turns 30 in the summer, he would still be one of football’s highest profile Bosman free transfers should he see out his contract. Paul Pogba, once the Premier League’s most expensive player, moved on a free back to Juventus last summer and other famous moves include Steve McManaman leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid after agreeing a pre-contract.
The risk for players is injury in the final stage of their contract, but with no fee paid club-to-club, the player moving can maximize his earnings through a lucrative signing on fee. Kane’s last contract deal was in 2018 and he has since won the Golden Boot at the World Cup but did not extend his contract during that time.
Kane and his Spurs teammates are waiting for Levy to appoint the club’s next permanent manager, which would influence the future of the players. There is an added twist of Mauricio Pochettino heading to Chelsea, which would spark speculation over the Tottenham manager working again with Kane but the two rivals rarely do business with each other.