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There is always speculation gossip and rumors when it comes to the transfer season and this season will be no different. The player I would like to put forward is none other than one of the best strikers in the Premier League, Harry Kane. The question I am posing is, should Manchester United consider buying Harry Kane at a price tag of at least £200m.
Factfile: Name: Harry Edward Kane DOB: 28th July 1993 (aged 26) Position: Striker Club: Tottenham Hotspur Nationality: English Senior Career Stats:
Let’s consider some of the pros for Manchester United to sign Kane at such a hefty price tag:
A switch to Manchester United football club would certainly make sense; Spurs, with stadium debts to pay totaling around £637million, may at some point need to balance the books as the economic impact unravels. In this case, Kane would be one of their most profitable assets and it was previously reported they might listen to a £200m offer.
Kane of course fits the bill more than ever as an out-and-out striker – something Manchester United are lacking currently as Martial, Rashford and Greenwood are all wide forwards and Ighalo, while doing well so far is not a first team regular. He will have a team focused around getting the ball into the penalty area at pace and can help him press high up the pitch.
The Red Devils are keen on placing the final pieces in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s puzzle and having signed Bruno Fernandes in January 2020, they’re on the verge of something special. His goal record speaks for itself and it would be far too easy just to label him as a plain and simple center-forward. Strong, good at holding the ball up, and prolific in front of goal, he fits the label but he’s so much more.
To understand the player Kane truly is, it’s important to know he did spend time as a midfielder in his youth; this has helped his all-round game and it’s extremely evident when you watch him closely. Not only is the striker an excellent technician in front of goal and inside the penalty area, he’s capable of scoring almost every type of goal imaginable. Headers, tap-ins, long range rockets with both left and right feet, finessed strikes into the top corner and blasted efforts. He showed another method this season as against Leicester, he even managed to score while falling over.
But this isn’t the only thing Kane does; he presses well, and has a fine passing range for a forward, capable of neat and quick interchanges, but also possessing the ability to spray the ball out wide with precision or assist team-mates with the most delicate of threaded through-balls. He’s the perfect center-forward in my opinion.
Some of the cons that need to be considered are firstly, Kane’s recent fitness trouble is a major stumbling block in gauging whether the scale of investment required to pull off such a deal is worthwhile. Prior to football being put on hold due to the coronavirus crisis, Kane had been sidelined since January as a result of a damaged hamstring that needed surgery to correct. Last season, he had two spells out of the Spurs team through ankle ligament damage and clearly wasn’t fully fit when he was a passenger in the Champions League Final against Liverpool. Kane also had two ankle injuries during 2016/17, missing games in September, October, March and April.
Secondly, Kane will not come cheap with talk of a £200m price tag on his head. Even though United are in a healthy financial position, despite the impact of coronavirus being felt elsewhere, as a result of that, £200m for a player who has suffered the injuries Kane has over the last couple of years is too much. Even if Spurs were willing to sell and negotiate a more aggregable price, conducting transfer business with chairman Daniel Levy is notoriously challenging, while United’s status as a direct rival makes it even more unlikely.
In conclusion I would suggest If United were to spend a huge sum of money on Kane in a complicated deal that would likely drag out for weeks, maybe months, where would that leave the rest of the club’s much more carefully planned recruitment plans ahead of next season. Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish have been identified as players Man Utd need immediately while the opportunity to sign 16-year-old prodigy Jude Bellingham as one for the future cannot be ignored. They are the club’s three primary targets but pursuing Kane would mean a rethink. Personally, I do not see Manchester United signing Harry Kane but that is just my humble opinion.
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