If there is one thing Bayern Munich have learned this summer, then it is that Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy is very, very good at playing hardball. The Bavarians have made their intention to sign England captain Harry Kane very clear as they seek to bring in a top quality number nine, but they are finding the London club’s supremo a very difficult person to negotiate with and the transfer saga is being dragged out with Bayern forced to keep increasing their offer.
According to reports, Bayern’s latest offer to the Premier League side has topped the €100 million mark, but Levy is still holding out for a bid of £100 million which would equate to €115. The player has made it clear that his preferred destination next season would be Bayern and his family have already been looking at property in the city ahead of a move.
Bayern want the player, the player wants Bayern, but Levy wants his valuation met and there still remains the possibility that he will dig his heels in and keep Kane for the final year of his contract and lose him on a free next summer. This eventuality would leave Bayern without their much sought-after new striker and with just two weeks until the start of the Bundesliga season, the club would need to find an alternative pretty quickly or risk a repeat of last season when they were forced to turn to Eric-Maxim Choupo Moting. The 34-year-old performed his role well, but the club have made signing a long-tern heir to Robert Lewandowski their number one priority this summer.
There is probably a limit to which Bayern are prepared to go and should Daniel Levy continue to snub their advances, they will need a Plan B. It is inconceivable that the Rekordmeister don’t have just such a contingency, but time is running out and the suitable players on the market are shrinking. Randal Kolo Muani had been touted as a potential signing, but PSG look favourites to sign the Frenchman.
The names of Victor Osimhen, Dusan Vlahovic and Julian Alvarez continue to come up, but they would all be second-choices (and they know it) to Kane. In an ideal world this whole saga would have been tied up weeks ago and Kane would have bedded in with the new squad on its tour of Asia, but as it is he is still at Tottenham with Daniel Levy showing he won’t be pushed around by Bayern Munich.
Should Plan A (Kane) come off, Bayern will have to integrate the player into the squad after the season has actually started, which is far from ideal. Should Plan A be thwarted, Bayern will have to quickly put Plan B into operation (whatever that may be).
We haven’t reached checkmate in the game of chess between Bayern and Levy, but we are entering the endgame phase.
