Man City boss Pep Guardiola sets Harry Kane transfer deadline ahead of fresh £120m bid
£100m Grealish enjoying 'every single minute' so far at Man City
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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola wants talks over a reported £120million move for Harry Kane to resume after Sunday’s fixture against Kane’s club Tottenham. The Spaniard has reportedly set a tight deadline for the Premier League champions to complete a deal for his top target.
Guardiola is understood to want a deal finalised next week to avoid a slow start to his side’s Premier League title defence.
A Kane transfer is Man City’s latest pursuit after they secured a £100m move for Jack Grealish from Aston Villa.
City lack an elite goalscorer following the departure of Sergio Aguero to Barcelona and have earmarked wantaway Spurs forward Kane as a replacement.
England captain Kane has expressed his desire to leave the North Londoners in pursuit of silverware.
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Kane has not won a major team trophy in his career and feels that this summer is the right time to move on from Spurs.
City are one of very few clubs who can afford to finance a deal for the 28-year-old, who is believed to be on around £200,000 per week.
And the Sun report that Guardiola wants the club’s transfer hierarchy to relaunch talks over deal for Kane once this weekend’s Premier League opener is out of the way, with the report claiming that City intend to bid £120m.
The Spaniard is also said to fear “a potentially disastrous slow start to the season”, as most of his first-team squad returned late to pre-season due to the involvement in the four international tournaments that took place over the summer.
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A mixed team of senior stars, fringe players and academy prospects suffered a 1-0 defeat in last weekend’s Community Shield clash against Leicester City.
City travel to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to face Spurs on Saturday, although Kane is not expected to play a part.
Last season’s top-flight golden boot winner only returned to his side’s Enfield training centre on Thursday following an extended summer break.
Any deal for Kane would almost certainly require City to smash the transfer record for an English club for the second time this summer.
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The £100m fee paid to Villa for Grealish broke the previous highest fee, which was the £89m that Manchester United paid for Paul Pogba in 2016.
Chelsea’s £97.5m capture of Romelu Lukaku, which was finalised on Thursday, now stands in second.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is understood to be firm in his stance that Kane will not be sold but City will reportedly still crack ahead with discussions over a £120m transfer.
Guardiola has already publicly admitted that Kane, who scored 23 Premier League goals last season, is a target.
“He’s a player for Tottenham Hotspur. If Tottenham don’t want to negotiate, it’s finished,” he said.
“If they are open to negotiate, I think not just Man City but many clubs in the world want to try to sign him – we are not an exception – but it depends on Tottenham.
“It’s different from Jack. Jack had a release clause and he is different.
“Harry Kane is an exceptional, extraordinary striker – no doubts about that, of course we are interested – but he is a Tottenham player and, if they don’t want to negotiate, there is nothing more to say. If they want to, we will try.”
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