• Bayern Munich have contacted Tottenham Hotspur regarding Harry Kane and suggested a £60m (Sh10.6bn) bid plus bonus payments but I have learned it is not yet a firm offer.
• The Mason Mount transfer saga is still rolling along so I went over to the Cobham Training ground, which is near to my home.
Image: HANDOUT
In a private meeting Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta convinced Kai Havertz to leave Chelsea to become part of his masterplan to win the Premier League title next season.
With Havertz now on board, Arsenal have tabled a club record of £105m (Sh18.6bn) for Declan Rice which easily beats Manchester City’s bid of £90m (Sh15.9bn).
It also tops the Hammers asking price of £100m (17.7bn) for the England international and club captain. The Gunners hope he will be an Arsenal player by this weekend.
Declan plays a defensive midfield role for the England national team but Arteta recognises that his high energy work rate takes him from box to box and he operates in both defence and attack.
That is where he will tie up with Havertz, playing a No8 role, in Arteta’s 2023/4 plans. Declan made it clear to the West Ham management and coach David Moyes that he prefers Arsenal and not Manchester City or any European clubs.
He is also a great student of the game and spends hours after training watching videos of players such as N’Golo Kante and Sergio Busquets to see how they command the midfield and rarely get drawn out of position.
He also studies attacking midfielders Ya Ya Toure and Patrick Viera to learn how to time perfect runs forward. Arteta knows that if he can secure Rice’s signature he will have a vital piece of his jigsaw in place.
The directors of both clubs have an agreement for Rice to move with the paperwork the only obstacle because West Ham want the money to be paid by the beginning of 2025 and Arsenal would prefer to pay over five years.
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Bayern move to save Kane
Bayern Munich have contacted Tottenham Hotspur regarding Harry Kane and suggested a £60m (Sh10.6bn) bid plus bonus payments but I have learned it is not yet a firm offer.
In a phone call, Bayern say they have not yet replaced Robert Lewandowski and former Liverpool striker Sadio Mane has failed to impress. Kane ticks all the boxes with his leadership, ability and superb goal-scoring record.
Time is running out for Kane. The local boy, who made it to the top still has no medals or trophies to his name and he has seen much younger players such as Marcus Rashford and Jack Grealish gain medals galore during their short careers.
If Kane is serious about leaving Tottenham, now is the time, not next year or the year after, but now. Chairman Daniel Levy would hate to sell Kane to a rival Premier League club and he has made Manchester United’s interest a misery to the point that they are now backing away from trying to buy the striker.
Kane relished the England game where Luke Shaw passed out to Marcus Rashford who threaded the ball to Kane and bang, he fired into the net. This could be happening on a weekly basis at United and Kane knows it.
Kane’s desire to leave Tottenham after so many fruitless years is well known. The appointment of relatively unknown Ange Postecoglou as coach has not inspired Kane’s confidence for the new season.
Even Levy realises that at the end of next season Harry’s contract ends and he could leave for nothing…and that is Levy’s dilemma: does he sell now for £100m (Sh17.7bn) or does he let Kane leave for nothing next year?
Manchester City tried to sign him two years ago, Levy resisted and the Sky Blues signed Erling Haaland. The Norwegian has added a Premier League title medal and a Champions League medal to his medal cabinet. What did Kane win during that period? Nothing!
Most footballing insiders think it is time for him to stand firm and force his way out of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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Maddison and Winks swap places
Relegated Leicester City finally said goodbye to their star player James Maddison on Wednesday after his £40m (Sh7bn) move to Tottenham Hotspur. At the same time, Harry Winks moved the other way and will play for the Foxes in the Championship next season.
He spent last season on loan at Italian Serie ‘A’ club Sampdoria and moved for £10m (Sh1.7bn). Maddison flew to London from his holiday in Ibiza to complete the deal and his contract will keep him at Spurs until 2028.
Signing Maddison is a major success for new coach Ange Postecoglou, who plans to give Tottenham more creativity and energy in midfield and provide more opportunities on goal for Kane, Heung-min Son, Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski.
Mount not pushing for Chelsea exit
The Mason Mount transfer saga is still rolling along so I went over to the Cobham Training ground, which is near to my home. Mount believed that a new Blue’s contract was in place prior to the World Cup.
On his return from the competition, he discovered that Chelsea had taken the deal off the table. With his current deal expiring in 12 months, Manchester United have been negotiating with the Blues’ management but after making three unsuccessful bids an agreement is far from close.
£55m (Sh9.7bn) is United’s final bid so far with £5m (Sh888.6m) worth of add-ons in terms of bonus and appearance payments. Chelsea want more and are looking at £65m (Sh11.5bn) but United recognise that with only 12 months left for the Blues to make money on the deal, their bargaining position is getting stronger.
My aim this week has been to find out what Mount thinks and what his wishes are. He has met with incoming coach Mauricio Pochettino and made it clear that he is not pushing for a move away from Stamford Bridge. He has told the club that he will be reporting for pre-season training duty and will be ready for Chelsea’s tour of the United States on July 17.
Pochettino wants Chelsea’s departing players to be sold before July 17. He will meet Mount for another crunch meeting if his situation is not resolved before that date. Mount has also made it clear that if he is sold, then Manchester is his preferred destination.
After a long talk with Pochettino, Ruben Loftus-Cheek agreed to join fellow ex-Blues Fikayo Tomori and Olivier Giroud at AC Milan. The Italian club is also chasing attacking midfielder Christian Pulisic.
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Big pay day for Rashford
A new deal for Marcus Rashford is very near and an announcement is imminent. Marcus is approaching the final year of his contract and at 25-years-of-age he is expected to earn £300k (Sh53m)-a week or £15m (Sh2.6bn)-a-year. Paris Saint-Germain have been showing interest.
However, United are confident a deal is agreed for him to stay at Old Trafford. He also became the first academy graduate recipient of the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award.
Liverpool’s new No7
Luis Diaz has been awarded a top honour at Liverpool football club. He has been granted the iconic number 7 shirt vacated by James Milner who left the club on Friday for Brighton.
Previous club legends who owned the shirt include Kevin Keegan and Kenny Dalglish. Colombian Diaz wore the number 23 shirt since his arrival from Portugese club FC Porto in January 2022.
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Players’ choice Hodgson for Palace
After talking with several candidates, Crystal Palace are likely to stick with Roy Hodgson as their coach for next season. Roy is very popular with players and staff and his turnaround in results, which delivered five wins in eight matches, kept Palace in the Premier League and these played a big part in the club’s decision.
Hodgson was playing it very cool as he said: “I haven’t spoken to Steve (Parish) the owner as yet and as far as I am concerned, I had a contract to do a job here and I achieved that. I will go back to where I was before the phone call came to employ me and I will wait and see what the future holds.” Don’t travel too far away Roy.
Who will wear City captain’s armband?
When a superstar captain leaves a club, there are big decisions to be made. Superstars don’t come any bigger than Ilkay Gundogan, who has joined Barcelona in Spain.
Having achieved everything possible in a career, with medals and trophies galore, he decided to finish off his career abroad despite Pep Guardiola’s attempts to persuade him to change his mind. It is now up to the club stars to vote for their new captain.
Gundogan captained City to three trophies last season but it was Ruben Dias who gave the speech before the FA Cup final and Kyle Walker did the same before Champions League final. Kevin De Bruyne is an obvious choice and Rodri, who had a sensational season, has come into the reckoning.
Gundogan and his predecessors Fernandinho and David Silva were quiet captains who spoke only when the occasion demanded. Vincent Kompany was an old school captain, who led by respect and authority.
Dias is the favourite because Gundogan called him over in the final training session before the Champions League final to give a team talk and he also could be seen inspiring the players in the tunnel before the second half.