Harry Kane price tag would have been far bigger for Man United as Bayern Munich wrap up deal

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Manchester United entered the summer transfer window surrounded by intense speculation that a their top target was Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane.

The Red Devils quickly realised that negotiating with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy would lead to a protracted transfer saga likely to end in disappointment and moved on.

Instead, developing striker Rasmus Hojlund has been brought in, with his pace and dynamism thought to make him a good fit in Erik ten Hag’s system.

With the Dane injured and perhaps not ready to lead the line at Old Trafford, there will be plenty of fans lamenting United’s reluctance to pursue Harry Kane, who would instantly improve the side immeasurably.

Harry Kane price tag

Bayern Munich have just secured a deal worth in excess of £86.4m and, according to David Ornstein, Kane has agreed to make the move to Bavaria.

At the start of the summer, that fee would have been within Man United’s reach. Their spending since precludes them from any notion of a late entry into the race. But it must be remembered that part of the attraction of Bayern’s bid, as far as Levy is concerned, is that it gets Kane out of England.

The stubborn negotiator has a curious attitude towards Tottenham’s standing in the Premier League and, somewhat oddly, views his team as a direct rival of Manchester United. As with Gareth Bale and Luka Modric in seasons gone by, it would have been one price for a foreign club and another for The Red Devils.

And with several positions in need of reinforcement, United could not realistically justify paying what could well have ended up being a 50% markup for the England captain, particularly given his advancing years.

The long term view

While Ten Hag is not above signing experienced players on big money – see Casemiro last summer – the money it would have taken to persuade Spurs to sell to another Premier League team could have had long-lasting implications for Man United’s financial future.

The transfer fee would have been astronomical to start with, but the £480,000-a-week contract United would have had to match were they bidding against Bayern would bring a host of issues all on its own. Wages spiralled out of control in the aftermath of the Alexis Sanchez signing and were threatening to do the same prior to Cristiano Ronaldo’s termination by mutual consent last year.

The overall value of Kane’s 4-year deal stands at around £100m. Had Levy squeezed The Red Devils for something like £150m, which would have been likely, Kane would have cost the club a quarter of a billion pounds. That’s very much a case of putting it all on 13 black.

While it now seems that Harry Kane will never be a Manchester United player and while that brings with it a gnawing sense of what might have been, the club have done the right thing by not competing with Bayern Munich.