Kane’s destination will decide EPL landscape: Neil Humphreys
England captain's mooted Spurs departure will have widespread ramifications
On the same day, two Tottenham Hotspur icons both made announcements that may change English football forever.
Gary Lineker supported a petition that called for an independent regulator for the game. Harry Kane informed Spurs that he wanted to leave the club.
It could be the end of the English Premier League, as we know it.
In Lineker's case, such a melodramatic assertion is easy to justify. The petition to the British government calls for an independent regulator to bring back the concept of sporting merit and a semblance of equality.
Kane's transfer could make that impossible. His choice of club may tip the balance of power, irreversibly, in the favour of the elite.
Or to put it in stark, simple terms, Lineker's petition for open competition won't be worth the paper it's written on if Kane ends up at Manchester City.
Should the finest English footballer of his generation join the wealthiest English club of his generation, then tear up the petition, drop off anything silver at the Etihad and shutter future seasons. Honestly, what would be the point?
Kane has scored an astonishing 220 goals in 334 appearances for Spurs. With 22 goals and 13 assists in this season alone, he's in the running for the EPL Golden Boot.
Geneticists with petri dishes and kids with PlayStation controllers couldn't create a superior finisher. Physically, mentally, creatively and emotionally, he's chillingly perfect. And at 27, his peak looms.
The reported price tag of £150 million (S$283.3m) seems obscene during a global pandemic, but in the fantasy land of elite football, the fee is entirely reasonable.
Only the oligarchs, a few disgruntled Americans and maybe the odd deranged president in La Liga are qualified to attend the great Kane auction, and the implications are worth considering.
Of all the candidates, only Manchester City boast the financial backing of an entire state. But they also boast a manager devoted to a philosophy. Pep Guardiola might want Kane. But his system doesn't need a No.9.
It's both reassuring and terrifying to think that the game's fragile integrity could come down to the tactical deliberations of one manager.
Big clubs buying big players is nothing new.
But a big club winning almost every domestic trophy in recent years and then buying a big player because there's enough wealth to fund a small nation is entirely new.
Neither Guardiola nor Kane should be blamed if they do join forces in next season's inevitable pillaging of silverware, but the rest of us might just switch off.
A similar scenario threatens to play out in an alliance between Kane and Chelsea, except that the Spurs striker is unlikely to consider a London rival and the Blues are still in transition, despite Thomas Tuchel's sudden impact.
But a possible marriage with those disgruntled Americans is a more curious proposition. Manchester United's owners, the Glazers, could use a public relations exercise to ameliorate the toxic situation around Old Trafford.
But £150m is a considerable sum to pay for a Band-Aid, even one as attractive as Kane. Old wounds run deep. A new striker cannot heal a broken relationship and he literally cannot fix a leaking stadium, a fitting metaphor for the Glazers' house of cards.
Liverpool's current position is the other way round. Their owners, the Fenway Sports Group, have marginally better relations with supporters, but have never shown the inclination to spend as much as the Glazers.
Despite recent successes, the Reds still feel like a posh version of Tottenham, profiting from the sales of Fernando Torres and Philippe Coutinho rather than keeping them.
Kane's capture could change that and reduce Mohamed Salah's goalscoring burden. He feels like a missing link, a chance for Liverpool to reach another level and mend ties with their supporters.
But their owners must break both the bank and their recruitment traditions to make that happen. It seems unlikely.
Oh, and Kane isn't going to La Liga. He just isn't.
His heart belongs to English football. But the soul of English football may well depend on his eventual destination.
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