Erik ten Hag made it his priority to strengthen the midfield last summer and he did just that by signing Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, with the pair immediately improving the side.
This year, Ten Hag’s second summer transfer window in charge, the focus is highly likely to be to sign a prolific goalscorer to ease the burden on Marcus Rashford, who has scored 28 goals in all competitions this season.
Rashford is the only player to reach double figures for the season and Harry Kane, the Tottenham star, is one of the names being continuously linked with a move to Old Trafford.
United hold a longstanding interest in Kane but a move for the record England goalscorer has never materialised, with his long contract at Tottenham keeping him from forcing any move.
Now, he has just one year remaining on the six-year contract he signed in 2018 and according to reports, he is increasingly unlikely to extend his stay.
Now, it is being reported that United have kickstarted their pursuit of signing Kane as they are now exploring what it would take to get a deal over the line.
That’s according to The Telegraph, who say that United are expected to make a bid for Kane this summer and are researching how to deal with negotiations with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.
As per the report, United are studying the landscape early as they are not convinced that Levy will sanction a deal and should it be a dead-end, they have time to pursue other targets such as Victor Osimhen instead.
In the report, it’s added that Levy is open to bids of £80m from clubs abroad but that does not apply to Premier League clubs, with domestic rivals handed a price tag of £100m.
Furthermore, reaching nine figures may not be a guarantee either as Levy could still decide to block any deal that would see Kane join another Premier League club.
SN’s verdict…
For large sections of the United support, a move for Kane may be viewed as a ship that set sail years ago. Kane turns 30 this summer and there are no guarantees that he will be valuable to the club over a four-year contract.
Osimhen, on the other hand, is years away from his prime age and has remarkable resale value. Ultimately, it would come down to whether Ten Hag believes Kane can do it for several years.
Tottenham run the risk of losing Kane on a free transfer in 12 months and although he will be knocking on the door of his 31st birthday by then, clubs will be more inclined to take that risk when there’s no transfer fee involved.
What madness! A play in his 30s costing 100 million with a year running in his contract. We’ll see how foolish man utd will be to sanction such a scammy deal.