Levy owns 30% of the company that owns 85% of Tottenham. He can do whatever he wants. He won't get fired.
Harry Kane | Bayern Munich player
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
we have shown in the past we do have money to spend but we just need to shift some players now.
Levy owns 30% of the company that owns 85% of Tottenham. He can do whatever he wants. He won't get fired.
Oo TIL. Thought he was some rando chairman.
Yeah the Rooney example is a very strange one to give as there are zero similarities between them. Rooney was never known to take care of himself and as such peaked at around 24. Kane on the other hand from what I've seen seems like the consummate professional who's game has never relied on pace or physical ability, which indicates he will be an Ibrahimovic rather than an Owen or similar players who declined with their physical abilities.
Its not at all obvious that strikers who "don't rely on pace" last longer. Every footballer still has to be quick enough to get around the pitch and beat opponents to the ball or to certain zones. Losing a step hurts everybody, no matter how quick you are to start. The most successful PL striker in his 30s of the last decade was Jamie Vardy, who relied heavily on pace.
The number of truly elite seasons by a PL forward age 32 and up in the last 20 years can be counted on one hand, probably with fingers left over. It is a really unforgiving league for aging players, no matter your profile in your prime (ie, skilled, pacy, physical, etc).
Can they add some more from minority arses to get to the finish line?
As some have said before, the worst case scenario is him signing for another club so if Bayern have an offer it could be good business to try to either get him or sink the deal in order to go back for him in January or when he runs down his contract.
I never said obvious, I said indicates which is not the same thing. Also, there's a big difference between someone who relies on pace ie. Michael Owen, and a walking corpse. Kane, while not relying on pace, still isn't some kind of mummy but as he has never relied on pace to shake a marker he should be able to adapt to losing a step. There has also been far more over 30 strikers who have done well in the last decade than just Vardy. Defoe scored 15 goals two seasons in a row at 34/35, Ibrahimovic scored 17 for us before he did his knee, Ronaldo scored 18, Antonio for West Ham has been good even at 33 among others. Obviously no one can predict the future, he could rupture an achilles tomorrow walking down the stairs. However, there are positive indicators which can assist in making a judgement call in whether someone is going to age gracefully or fall off the face of the earth. He's not got a stocky build so is quite lanky (he's not going to struggle due to weight), never been particularly quick (has had to rely on technical side of the game), has playmaking abilities (can move into other roles, assist team in other ways) etc., all of which suggest he's more similar to a Benzema, or Ibrahimovic than Owen or Rooney.
Where did you get that number mate? The Athletic said we only have about 100m.
People come up with all sorts of reasons to believe that a certain player will age better but its all just guesswork. The only thing solid you can really point to is that age 32+ players in general - and forwards inn particular - have a terrible track record over the last two decades in the PL.
The seasons you cite are really pretty far below elite level. Defoe scored 14 and 10 non-penalty goals two seasons running for a terrible side that got relegated. Ibra and Ronaldo each scored 15 non penalty goals but also demanded to have entire attacks built around feeding them the ball and offered next to nothing out of possession. If you signed Harry Kane for 100m and 400k per week and then he played like that from age 32 onward its not really a good thing.
I actually expect Kane to be sold to Bayern, if he tells Spurs that he won’t sign a new deal.
I never said it wasn't guesswork. You cite Defoe scoring 15 goals as not elite. I'd say that's elite when the next best scorer on the team scored 5. You can't just go "well that guy only scored 10 goals, he's shite" ignoring the context. 15 total goals for a 33/34 year old playing for a side which got 39 points and only scored 48 goals is pretty good to me as he scored a third of their total goals. Ibrahimovic scored 17 goals in the league when United only scored 54 total. That's great for a 35 year old. Also, the bolded shows you never watched us with Ibrahimovic that season. Ronaldo scoring 18 goals in a season where United only scored 57 is good, especially for a 37 year old.
Even you saying it's not a good thing to sign Kane ignores the context behind the rest of the team. You sign Kane to maximize the benefit of having a 31 year old Casemiro, a 30 year old Varane, a 28 year old Shaw, a 28 year old Bruno etc. Not for his benefits 5 years down the line.
I read the other day that United is his preference.
Yeah so do I as well
Probably is but we won't get involved as Spurs aren't interested in selling to us
the only way, and thats 10%, that Kane plays for United is that he stays until his contract runs out. We are never in the conversation when Levy holds the cards. Bayern to get into the conversation needs to bid 100m I somehow think they wont.
But this can’t be true. Spurs cannot let him leave on a free so either they will need to sell him if we offer £100m or they will need to accept whatever cheapskate offer Bayern come up with. It’s academic though because we don’t appear to be in a position to offer £100m.
If he stays until his contract runs out, we must be favourites to sign him. No way our prospects are 10% at that stage.
Yeah he is definitely more than 10% to play for Utd IF he let's his contract run down,otherwise I would say it's not even 1% due to not having over £100m kicking about
If we can afford £60m for Hoijlund surely we can sell a few players and lay down 100m for Kane instead.
Kane at Utd is the obvious one, it should happen.
Kane at Utd is the obvious one, it should happen.
No way Levy is selling to us even we offer something around £120m in total (£100m plus addons). I think we accepted that was the case back in June so moved to more of a prospect striker like Hojlund instead
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I think this gets exaggerated tbh, yes, we’d need to pay more that Bayern, but if Utd bid, say, 105m and Bayern bid 80m and Kane himself says ‘I want Utd or will go for free’, Levy will obviously take it.
We should be bidding for Kane, there’s no reason not to.
He belongs at Utd, it’s meant to be. As the Gallaghers sang, ‘you got to make it happen’.
You make a valid point but it just feels like Utd don't see Kane having the balls to give Levy that ultimatum much as I want it to happen
Levy going to get what he wants I think - Kane is not headstrong enough to demand a move now.
Reckon he ends up staying and signing an extension with some kind of buyout clause this time around.
I think all ships will eventually depart for trophy-land without Kane…..
Reckon he ends up staying and signing an extension with some kind of buyout clause this time around.
I think all ships will eventually depart for trophy-land without Kane…..
I don't think he will sign a new contract with Spurs, I actually think he's waiting for Utd, either this window or the next one, he probably sees us as a club back on an upward curve and with Pep finishing at City in the next 2 years its probably a very smart move to make.
I'd imagine he can still get voted out, no?Levy owns 30% of the company that owns 85% of Tottenham. He can do whatever he wants. He won't get fired.
Crazy spending so much money on a 30 years old.
I am not sure Levy would. He is extremely stubborn and will hope for believe he can get Kane to sign an extension. If there had been any indication we could get Kane for 105 I am certain we would have already done it.
If Bayern bid £80m, our offer would have to be around £130m at least for Levy to even consider it. £25m more won’t be sufficient. Personally I don’t think he’d let him go to us below £150m, he perceives United as huge rivals for some reason.
So far, has he had a better or worse career than Steven Gerard?
Or Kane could say: "Either you sell me to United, or risk seeing me go for free to a London rival next summer and face the supporters wrath"
Think that might do the trick
Gerrard won a Champions League..
He’d be the difference in us fighting for top 4 and fighting for the title next season.
No one in their right mind is going to spend 100m on a 30 year old with 10 months left on his contract.
It's a game of chicken, but I think Levy blinks and accepts a reasonable fee towards the end of the window.
It's a game of chicken, but I think Levy blinks and accepts a reasonable fee towards the end of the window.
Gerrard won the CL, the Uefa cup, and numerous FA and League cups. The only thing he didn't win was the PL.
Kane has won absolutely nothing.
On the bold part.
Atleast for the first time I agree with a Arsenal fan.
The easiest way to predict the future is by checking if there are past patterns regarding the same issue. I also don't understand how Cafe usually comes up with reasons to believe something magically good is going to happen on to something when all previous pattern point to it being worse.
1. All this 100m signings generally never work. Even the mighty Ronaldo from Real to Juventus didn't work out, as the final push for CL title for Juve.
2. As you've said, above 31+ years as a striker in EPL is not easy. Even Aguero, Van Persie some elite footballers started to show their age when they reached 31 years. It's more to do with the demand of the league ( fatigue, recovery time, injuries, in game demands) etc.
Harry Kane is a sailed ship to Man Utd. We should be striving in getting a striker who will offer 6 years tops before getting to 30 years
I actually wouldn't be surprised if Levy doesn't accept anything and takes his chances on persuading Kane to sign a shorter term contract at much higher wages i.e. Mbappe.
I would tend to agree that Kane might be a sailed opportunity and perhaps too old. It's only an option at the quoted fee if the goal is to "win now" (this season or the next one) and I don't quite think MU is really there yet.
Casemiro, Eriksen and maybe Varane might need to be cycled out in the not distant future. Adding Kane to that list means the club basically would revert back to needing a CD, D/CM and CF and all for a pretty penny.
On a free next year ? I'd imagine that would be much more interesting, but obviously on top of a CF player added this summer.
I don't know Hojlund is the right choice but I think it's closer to the right profile for the club's future.
Casemiro, Eriksen and maybe Varane might need to be cycled out in the not distant future. Adding Kane to that list means the club basically would revert back to needing a CD, D/CM and CF and all for a pretty penny.
On a free next year ? I'd imagine that would be much more interesting, but obviously on top of a CF player added this summer.
I don't know Hojlund is the right choice but I think it's closer to the right profile for the club's future.
Kane does not have the luxury of time, his next contract will be his last meaningful one.
Levy is probably considering the lack of viable alternatives, same as us. Losing Kane and no alt is pretty much a death sentence to their season.
Kane or not no chance they'd win anything or get into the top 4 next season. And it's not like they'd get relegated without Kane.
Levy and his family also own a percentage in their own name. Only person who could get rid of Levy is Joe Lewis and why would he wanna do that, Levy has made a fortune for ENIC out of Spurs.
My wishful thinking is that he stays but won’t renew, and we can pick him up for like £20M-£30M in the winter window.