As the Premier League nears a return, there is still one enormous question to be answered at Tottenham Hotspur: will Harry Kane still be a Spurs player next season?
It is a question that may be answered fairly shortly, with Bayern Munich having submitted their third and potentially final bid for Kane. The £86m offer is a club-record for the German side and they are not expected to return with an increased proposal should Daniel Levy reject the bid.
Kane has already featured several times for the Lilywhites during pre-season and whether or not he is picked for Tottenham’s friendly with Shakhtar Donetsk on Sunday 6 August may offer a greater insight into whether a Spurs exit will finally happen this summer.
Spurs have only played two pre-season matches, with a third against Leicester City having been cancelled due to poor weather. A 3-2 defeat to London rivals West Ham United was followed by an emphatic 5-1 win over Singaporean side Lion City Sailors.
Kane started both games under new boss Ange Postecoglou, being replaced by Richarlison at half-time twice. He managed a goal from the penalty spot against Lion City Sailors moments before being substituted.
Spurs have two more friendlies before their Premier League opener against Brentford on Sunday 13 August, facing Shakhtar and Barcelona in the space of two days.
Given that Kane has started both of Tottenham’s most recent encounters despite ongoing talks over his departure, the game against Shakhtar could be no different. He might only feature for 45 minutes anyway as is standard in pre-season, but could get a longer run out given that the Premier League season is so close to starting.
READ MORE ON HARRY KANE’S PROPOSED TRANSFER TO BAYERN MUNICH
Considering Kane is said to want his future decided before the opening Premier League game of the season in a week’s time, his potential omission from the Tottenham team to face Shakhtar could mean that Spurs intend to accept the Bayern bid.
It would be somewhat ironic if Spurs accepted the bid and then played Kane against Shakhtar only for him to get injured, so resting him in that eventuality would be the obvious decision.
Tottenham do play Barcelona on Tuesday 8 August, only two days after the Shakhtar match. Postcegolou has already spoken about how the quick turnaround between friendlies means most of his squad should get a good amount of game time.
If Kane doesn’t play against Shakhtar, it could simply be because he is being rested for the Barcelona encounter. However, speculation is bound to be rife if his name doesn’t appear on the team sheet to face the Ukrainian side.
On this week’s edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Toby Cudworth is joined by Graeme Bailey to discuss the next steps in Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane hunt, Brighton rejecting another Chelsea bid for Moises Caicedo, who has had the most impressive transfer window so far & more!
If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
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