Harry Kane close to sealing transfer to Bayern Munich from Tottenham
MUNICH (AP) — England captain Harry Kane’s transfer from Tottenham to Bayern Munich is “imminent,” Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou said Friday, in a deal that will reportedly be worth more than 100 million pounds ($110 million).
“My understanding is it has progressed to the point where it looks like it’s going to happen,” Postecoglou said of what would be a record transfer for the Bundesliga and one of the biggest deals of the summer transfer window.
The 30-year-old Kane is expected to undergo medical tests in Germany on Friday and could potentially make his debut Saturday, when Bayern hosts Leipzig in the German Super Cup.
However, British broadcaster Sky Sports reported he had not yet flown to Germany and still wanted some reassurances.
Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel said his club is still “working hard” to sign Kane.
“We are working with the highest pressure and highest focus and highest priority to sign Harry Kane,” Tuchel said. “And this shows the importance. I mean, we are trying to get the captain of the English national team out of England, out of the Premier League. That says it all.”
Kane, the second highest scorer in the Premier League with 213 goals — 47 behind Alan Shearer’s record — would give a central focus in attack to a Bayern team which has struggled to adapt since selling Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona a year ago.
As for Tottenham, Kane’s departure would leave a hole in the squad ahead of its first game of the new Premier League season, against Brentford on Sunday. It would require a deep rebuild in a team which is already reeling from the failure to qualify for any European competition this season, but Postecoglou said he had been preparing for that and that Kane’s imminent departure “at least gives us some clarity.”
“We have been planning for this, it’s fair to say, for a while,” he said. “This doesn’t change things dramatically from my perspective anyway for what we are trying to build.”
Postecoglou, who joined Tottenham in the offseason, said he hadn’t attempted to change Kane’s mind.
“I had a conversation with Harry the first day I arrived and he was up front and honest and I was the same,” he said. “You kind of get an indication there that he had made up his mind that if the clubs agreed, that he would go.
“There is nothing that has been along the way that has sort of made my feel there was anything other than this outcome.”
Kane, who has been at Tottenham since 2004, is in the last year of his contract at the club and could have moved for free next year.