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The Negotiator from hell: Harry Kane’s fate lies on Levy, a man who even tricked sir Alex Ferguson
Reading Time: 5min | Mon. 31.05.21. | 22:06
Spurs supremo refused to sell Modric to Chelsea and Bale to Manchester United
Other football news (Manchester United losing the Europa League final, Chelsea winning the Champions League, Sergio Aguero signing for Barca) have pushed back Harry Kane’s transfer request to Tottenham, but it doesn’t mean that everything is over. In fact, nothing is over yet, it’s only beginning.
Kane has scored most goals in the Premier League (23) and had most assists (14) during the just ended season in England, and will be a huge asset to any team which decides to splash the cash for the English international. But, first comes first. If any deal is to be done, it will be done after the upcoming European Championship, and that is what England National team coach Gareth Southgate confirmed recently.
Harry Kane admires Mauricio Pochettino as a manager, but his return to Tottenham Hotspur would not tempt the striker to change his mind about leaving the club. [The Times] pic.twitter.com/Ws89iXjMZE
— PF | Transfer News (@PurelyFootball) May 31, 2021
Spurs chief Daniel Levy has said nothing publicly so far, but it has been reported that he was working hard behind the scenes in order to bring back Mauricio Pochettino as the coach, hoping that would change Kane’s stance. But, as Times reports, even if the Argentinian comes back (which is unlikely), Kane is still determined to go. In that case, we have a long summer ahead of us, as Levy is known for being one of the worst negotiators out there. The worst for buyers, the best for his club. There are number of examples in the past which only confirmed that Spurs boss always gets what he want’s, no matter what his players want.
(©AFP)Famous Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the many people who had to deal with Levy not only once, and the Scotsman was not happy about it. He even mentioned tough negotiations with Levy when The Red Devils wanted to sign Dmitri Berbatov in 2008.
„When we got wind of the fact that Levy was trying to sell Berbatov to Manchester City, we stuck in our oar, chartered a plane and flew the player to Manchester, agreeing on terms with the player and, as I thought, a transfer fee with the club. Then Levy came back to us and said he needed Fraizer Campbell, one of our young strikers, as part of the deal. Finally, in order to get the deal over the line, and to add insult to injury, we sent Campbell on loan and paid the increased fee. We were up until midnight signing and faxing papers to make sure all the paperwork went through before the deadline expired. That whole experience was more painful than my hip replacement! You can't discuss both sides of the issue with Daniel. It's about him, and Tottenham, nothing more, which is no bad thing from his club's perspective“ explained sir Alex in his autobiography.
(©AFP)Another famous player was the ’victim’ of his own desire to leave Spurs, and, in fact failed to do so in his first attempt. His name is Luka Modrić and he plays for Real Madrid now, but it wasn’t like that in 2010 when Chelsea wanted to buy the creative midfielder. Despite the midfielder meeting Blues owner Roman Abramovich on his yacht in Nice, Levy stood firm to block the move - adamant he would not sell to a direct Premier League rival, something everybody thinks he will do when it comes to Kane, who stated he want’s to stay in England.
„Chelsea kept coming back with improved offers after Levy's every rejection. All of this aggravated me. Despite all the turbulence, I always had a good relationship with Levy. He was the one who brought me to Tottenham – for a record fee in the club's history. That only showed how highly he thought of me. However, I resented him because on a couple of occasions he had promised to let me move to a bigger club and then broke his promise. For me, one's promise and one's word are more important than anything. I had proven myself as a player. I didn't know where I would go from Tottenham. I didn't know if and when Levy would agree to sell me. But I was convinced it was time to move on, to a new and bigger challenge“ said Modric in his autobiography. In the end, Levy made a good choice for the Croat: Real Madrid in 2012, where he would win four Champions League trophies and two La Liga titles.
(©AFP)Let’s stay with Levy’s relationship with Real, as the Spurs boss was once again firm with the Royal club, who came to buy Gareth Bale in 2013. Again, Manchester United wanted to buy the Welshman, but Levy didn’t want to supply his league rivals with star players, so Real Madrid became the favorite, but...
Real offered a world record sum at the time – 13 billion Ksh, but wanted to pay the player over installments over three years - something Levy didn’t want to do. Needles to say, he got what he wanted out of the deal.
(©AFP)Next one was Christian Eriksen and with his transfer, Levy showed his magnificent ’poker face’. The midfielder was about to walk away on a free transfer, as he didn’t want to sign a new contract, so Inter Milan hoped that they could get the Dane for cheap, as he only had six months until the end of his contract, but, again, Levy showed his skills. He managed to get a whopping 2,6 billion Ksh for a player who’s contract would run down in six months.
So, after all this, can Kane be sure he will get his wish to leave the club? And if he get’s it, will it be the club he prefers?












