How long Bayern Munich will pursue Tottenham’s Harry Kane before they abandon any notion of a transfer is unclear at this stage, though they do have a Plan B in mind and that will make Man City sit up and take notice.
From Kane’s perspective, it would appear at this point that the striker sees his future away from White Hart Lane, however, if Tottenham chairman, Daniel Levy, isn’t prepared to do business with any club from the Premier League or elsewhere, there seems little option for Kane than to stick out the last year of his contract.
That said, if he strings the north Londoners on long enough and then drops the bombshell towards the end of the window that he’ll walk away for free in 12 months time, it could force Levy’s hand.
The question is, will Bayern still be in the mix for his services by that point.
Most clubs would surely like to have bedded down their squads ahead of pre-season, or not too long after games have begun.
Having someone parachuted in at the last minute can have the opposite effect to what’s intended, given that teams will have been working on certain elements in training and then this would need to be adapted to make allowances for the new man.
Should the Bundesliga champions decide that they can’t play such a high stakes game of poker, they’ll turn their attention to City’s Julian Alvarez according to reliable journalist, Christian Falk, of Bild.
Quite whether Pep Guardiola is willing to play ball is another matter entirely, and the World Cup winner does seem very settled in the blue half of Manchester too.