Ange Postecoglou has confirmed a deal for Harry Kane to join German giants Bayern Munich is “imminent”, as Tottenham Hotspur prepare for their life without their star striker.
The new Spurs boss faced multiple questions surrounding the immediate future of Kane; multiple reports claim the England captain’s move to Bayern Munich is all-but sealed, with the latest mail suggesting Tottenham have given the green light to Kane to undergo his medical at the German club.
Kane has one year left on his Tottenham contract, and the reported £95million (AUD $185 million) move would cause a dramatic shift in expectations for the new man in charge at the club in Postecoglou’s first season of a four-year deal in North London.
Postecoglou fronted the media on Friday afternoon (local time) ahead of Spurs’ opening round Premier League clash with Brentford and confirmed Kane is more than likely set to depart the North Londoners.
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“I don’t have a blow by blow account of the whole thing but I understand it has progressed to where it will happen. That’s all the information I have at the moment. It looks like we’ll move forward without Harry,” Postecoglou said.
“I don’t have feelings either way about needing anything. From my perspective it’s about understanding where were are at. I understand the deal is imminent.”
The Aussie elaborated on Kane’s expected departure, saying the club has been planning for life without him and felt the England captain would leave after a conversation they had “on day one”.
“We’ve been planning for this, it’s fair to say, for a while,” Postecoglou said.
“It doesn’t take too much investigative work to realise this was going to happen. A lot of our business so far has been with this in mind. It doesn’t change my plans dramatically.
“There’s still movement in the squad and it’s a big squad with players we need to move out. There are three or so weeks to go in the window.
“I had a conversation with Harry [Kane] on day one and we were both up front. I got an indication there that if both clubs agreed he would go.
“My preference was that it would be sorted before the first game. These things don’t happen in isolation and everyone is clued up. I haven’t received any news from anyone about Harry’s decision changing.”
Postecoglou felt that Kane’s mind was always set on leaving, believing it wasn’t a decision he made lightly.
“I didn’t see the point in that [trying to convince Harry Kane to stay], whatever I was going to say was going to irrelevant,” he continued.
“My feeling was that we’ll get to know each other and that would be the best way to navigate the early relationship.
“Having said that, in my mind I thought he’d already decided to go after the first conversation. I tried to treat him with the respect his standing deserves.
“I don’t get frustrated by these things. I’ve been involved in the negotiations side but it’s never a simple process. Harry Kane is one of the greats of this football club and there must have been some torment inside.
“While it would have been great to have it sorted earlier I always through it was going to be borderline. The one thing I was clear on was going into the first game with stuff undecided. It has happened, hopefully we’ll have confirmation over the next couple of hours.
“I don’t need assurances. Nothing has changed from when I started. We’ve had a clear idea about bringing in players to bolster the squad in the right areas. Moving players out is still a big part of what we need to do so we’ll see how that unfolds.”
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Kane will go down as one of Tottenham’s all-time best players, after usurping club legend Jimmy Greaves en route to becoming Spurs’ all-time record goalscorer with 280 goals from 435 appearances.
He currently sits 47 goals behind all-time leading Premier League scorer Alan Shearer, and the latter’s record looks set to stay intact for a little while longer as a result of Kane’s expected move to Bayern.
“It’s best Harry speaks for himself in terms of the decision but he’s one of the greats of this football club and that doesn’t change,” Postecoglou said.
“His record stands for itself. His place with the supporters stands for itself.
“I’m only new in the building, I’m not a spokesperson for the club but Kane’s reputation will always be there.”
Despite the myriad of accolades Kane has achieved throughout his time at Spurs, silverware has always eluded the 30-year-old who never won a single trophy during his lengthy stay at the club.
Postecoglou, however, believes his lack of silverware won’t be a determining factor in the legacy he leaves at Spurs should the move to Munich come about.
“I think that’s a little bit unfair on Harry as well,” Postecoglou said.
“They’ve got close a couple of times but that’s the reality of this business that until you lift the trophy, that kind of thing is always sort of branded against you.
“That doesn’t diminish his contribution and I think it’s only fair that on a day like today that our supporters do have a sense of mourning and less because irrespective of the lack of success at the club he has been a hero to them and he will continue to be so.
“Again him going doesn’t change my vision of what I’m trying to bring to this football club.”
Spurs will now get to work in order to replace Kane before the end of the summer transfer window, with Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi already linked with a move to the club according to Daily Express journalist Ryan Taylor.
“I don’t think there’s a like for like replacement for Harry. We’ve been planning for this for a while to be fair. It doesn’t take too much investigative work to know that this was going to happen. Our business up to now reflects that,” Postecoglou said.
“I don’t think it works that way [giving Daniel Levy a list of strikers to get]. It’s not like the family shopping list to go and get milk and bread for the kids. My whole strategy has been that Harry was unlikely to be around so it wasn’t like we had a pow wow this morning.”
As for a replacement as captain? Postecoglou responded in classic fashion.
“Yeah I have. I’m not telling you mate. We’ll go through that process tomorrow,” he quipped.
Meanwhile, Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel responded to the reports of Kane arriving at the club in his pre-game press conference ahead of the DFL Supercup final against RB Leipzig this weekend.
“We are working on it intensely, that much I can confirm. As of right now, no agreement has been reached, and when no agreement has been reached, then a coach will not comment on it, because it is not his player,” Tuchel said.
“I understand there are a lot of ifs and whens. All options are open. The first is to have him as a player and at the moment he is not yet that.
“This is a big deal. We are trying to take the England captain away from the Premier League.”
