Welcome to the summer silly season! It’s time to take a spin through the latest churnings in the Manchester City transfer rumor mill. Let’s start by flashing back to what Pep Guardiola said back on April 2: “Due to the economy and the current prices of players, we can not afford to buy a striker this summer. Impossible.”
“With these prices, we are not going to buy any striker. It is impossible, we cannot afford it. All the clubs struggle financially and we are not an exception. We have Gabriel [Jesus], Ferran [Torres], a lot of players in the academy, and we sometimes play with a false nine.
“There are a lot of big chances that we are not going to sign a new striker for next season.
“We have enough players in the first team right now and interesting players in the Academy. It is a big challenge, for the situation in the world, because of the economic problems in world football, we are not going to sign any striker for next season.”
Okay, so no one really believed him back then, as the concept of City not splashing the cash in the transfer window, or at least not having the money to throw around, is beyond laughable. One of only two clubs in the entire world owned by a nation-state, and an ultra-wealthy petrol state at that, of course they’ll have the money to replace Sergio Aguero!
City, like Paris Saint-Germain, compete financially on a separate plane above everyone else. And that brings us back to today, where we get up to speed on City placing a £100m bid for Harry Kane and closing in on signing Jack Grealish for £100m+.
By the time both are said and done, the total net spend, with add-ons to get these two blockbuster acquistions over the line could exceed £250m. According to the Daily Mail, City are confident that they can break the British transfer fee record with their offer of £100 million, and that “will be sufficient to secure the signing of Jack Grealish despite Aston Villa’s move to offer their captain a new contract.”
The chatter right now seems to say that this could happen, but only after England is done competing at Euro 2020. As for Kane, he maintains that he is so focused on trying to win a trophy with Three Lions at the Euros right now that he has not had any conversations with the club about his future, for weeks.
Asked whether all the transfer talk has adversely impacted his performance with England (he has yet to score at the Euros), Kane responded:
“No, not at all, to be honest, I feel like when I come away with England I’m just fully focused on England. My brother is my agent, but the only time I’ve spoken to my brother really over the last few weeks is ‘good luck, let’s get a win, and let’s take England all the way.’
“So it doesn’t really bother me about the outside noise. When I’m here I’m with the boys, I try to help the boys, be a leader in the team. I need to get to know the boys, see what makes certain players tick and the younger lads, helping them, so I feel like I’ve got enough on my plate to worry about anything outside of England.
“That’s where I’m at, and of course I feel like it’s one of them where if you’re not scoring as a striker, people look for every little angle why you’re not scoring and that’s probably the case in this tournament so far, but like I said, as long as I’m focused, I’ve got the self-belief I have, I’m not worried about anyone else.”
Pressed on if he had followed Tottenham’s disastrous managerial search — which has dragged out for well over two months, and no end in sight, Kane told the group of assembled reporters:
“No if I’m totally honest I don’t really read anything, no media, and that’s all your jobs…. but I honestly don’t.
“The only thing I normally go on is Instagram and I don’t really see anything [about Spurs’ search] on there. That’s just more pictures and things like that. That’s just the brutal honesty. I just keep myself to myself, I watch my series, I’m with the boys playing pool or table tennis. I just try to stay away from it all.
“The most important thing is about us as a group and us a staff and as a nation and when you are in these tournament modes, sometimes it’s easy to get caught away with other stuff but yeah, the experience I’ve had in the last few tournaments, is just to focus on this and do what you can in the moment and leave no regrets.”
What else is Kane supposed/going to say in those questions? He’s always been adept at saying all the right things, as the proverb goes. It’s been a moribund summer transfer window thus far, but look for things to really get cooking once England is done at the Euros.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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