It's not £50m. It's a bunch of players that they don't want and can't shift, plus some cash. That and it's obviously made up, because it's on Goal, of course.
Yeah, I assumed it was a journalist's wild imagination running away with him. It was the valuation that made me comment. £50mil for a guy who's got less than one full season of striking success behind him is a crazy sum. Who'd be stupid enough to pay way over the top like that. Oh, wait a minute, the name Andy Carroll has just sprung to mind!
Ignoring the fact that the story is almost certainly bollocks I would simply not take 50m for Kane. There is every indication that Kane is going to be one of the best strikers in the league. And surely the last few years have shown us that a bird in the hand is worth approximately seven in the bush. The likelihood of us purchasing someone as good as Kane with whatever money we get are very, very slim. And I don't buy the analogy of Carroll or other one-season wonders. Carroll was clearly a decent striker who had a good half-season but was also clearly limited. A very good big man up top and battler who can lash it in but his technique, speed were clearly suspect from the start. I clearly remember a little bit on MOTD when he was at Newcastle where they were extolling his virtues and someone mentioned his "good technique" and the next clip they showed the ball was bouncing off his shin as he tried to control it! Found his level at West Ham and is a key player for a mid-table team. Kane, on the other hand, has not been luckily having his weaknesses unexploited. You can see he has a useful amount of pace, strength, a very good brain, enough technique and skill, can head, can shoot, knows how to be a predator in the box. I seriously think he could be our best striker since Berbatov and may well prove better overall.
I hope you're right, only time, or next season will tell. I still maintain that at this stage of his Development, £50mil is a ridiculous price.
Carroll's still a good striker, when he's fit and up to speed. That rarely happens, though. He brings out bad habits in teammates, as he's very easy to hit with a cheap long-ball instead of building a move, but he's got plenty of ability. He failed at Liverpool because of the tactics used and he's flopping now because of his fitness problems, in my opinion. The injuries that he's sustained might put him out of the game sooner rather than later, unfortunately. It appears that might go the way of Dean Ashton. It's a real shame to see any player retire in their mid-twenties.
I think he's not bad, in a limited sort of way. But, paying £35mil for him at that stage of his development, was reckless, IMO.
Funnily enough what makes me optimistic about Kane going forward is that fact that he doesn't have one outstanding physical attribute. He's quick, strong, and big enough but not overwhelmingly so in any of those areas. We've seen plenty of youngsters break through being good at one of those things then never really progressing. Kane though has had success because he is technically stronger and more direct than people expect at times, he works his socks off, and because he seems to have a good footballing brain and a handy finish from all kinds of positions. I wouldn't sell him for any money, seriously. A 20 league goal per season striker of his (or indeed any) age is utterly irreplaceable for a club in our position. I'd be sad to see Lloris go but for a Levy-style fee we could do a far better job of replacing him than we could with Kane. If we sell Kane because "we'll never get a better price" then I'd be furious.
I'm a life long Spurs fan, and I really hope he turns out to be the next Lineker, or whatever. But again, I think next season will determine if we have a genuine star, or not.
I think Levy and ENIC understand the business very well. That's why they seem to be as interested in buying and developing young players as anyone. It maximizes the chances to buy a very valuable player. After that, cut your losses and let your winnings run. Kane is a winning. It's also why this might be true, from Cartilage Free Captain: "Reports in France say that Tottenham have completed the signing of 19-year-old Monaco striker Anthony Martial Coming into this summer Tottenham Hotspur fans didn't know what to expect from their team, given the activities of the past few days, it seems that fans can expect quick and under the radar transfers. Anthony Martial may not be the latter, but this rumor has certainly materialized out of nowhere. The 19 year-old Monaco striker has been on the radar of numerous big clubs for the past couple years, but reportsin France now seem to indicate that he has signed for Spurs for 25 million Euro (£18 million). Martial, dubbed the next Thierry Henry by the French press, scored 9 goals in 2500 minutes this season for AS Monaco. He went crazy down the stretch too (a la Harry Kane last year) starting 12 of Monaco's final 14 matches and scoring eight goals and adding one assist. Martial is primarily a striker, but was used all over the front line by Monaco, at times playing wide left and wide right. Martial has demonstrated excellent pace and dribbling ability in his time at Monaco and his finishing is top notch for someone so young." I have no idea whether there's anything to this. Cartilage Free Captain uses the phrase #batcountry for every other rumor. The fact they didn't use it for this indicates they seem to think it's actually happening. Or at least actually might be happening. Or maybe the fact he already has an assist against Arsenal is making everyone suspend their disbelief. But I like the idea of paying 18 million for a nineteen year old who scored 8 goals in his last 12 Ligue 1 matches. I don't like the idea of getting 50 million for someone who may become the most valuable player in the PL, and already was second or third most valuable at 21. A pacy striker was second only to a pacy right wing on my wish list. If he's good enough, Pochettino could in theory try a 4-4-2. Apparently he can play on either wing as well. CFC on Linnety. It applies to this potential buy as well, I think, if you take away the "obscure" and take "doesn't cost that much" very loosely. "Taking a chance on an up and coming midfield dynamo makes sense, particularly with Paul Mitchell in charge. This feels like exactly the kind of young, obscure foreign player that Soton would buy out of nowhere. Its a young player with plenty of upside who doesn't cost that much."
Oh sure. Don't get me wrong - Carroll, especially when used right, would be a very good striker for about 70% of teams in the EPL (didn't mean to denigrate him quite so much when I said he'd found his level at West Ham). I just mean that I think it's clear already that Kane is an altogether classier prospect. Like someone said above - he's not obviously overwhelming strong in any particular department but he's not really lacking much in any either. I see absolutely zero evidence in his performances to suggest that last season was a Michael Ricketts season for him.
Seriously my only concerns for Kane are injury and Champions League clubs' envious looks towards him. He'll lose form maybe here and there, he will find next season harder and it'll be amazing if he gets the same number of goals as this season but we really do, I think, have a very solid top Premier League striker who will get around 15-25 prem goals a season, injury permitting. I am the first to air doubts about players and try to keep people's feet on the ground when we sign A N Otherivic who has a great YouTube video but I see no problem with being genuinely excited that we have one of the best strikers in the league in Harry Kane.
The youtube vid makes it look like a logical signing. Right footed but seems to prefer playing out left.
He does seem to play out on the left often. Apparently though, he's a striker first, he actually knows how to finish, also plays both wings. http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/anthony-martial/profil/spieler/182877 Video only suggests the managers preference, not players, no? I think he'd be more comfortable and willing to play striker backup to Kane than a Benteke or an Austin, plus he seems like he has the ability to play the right ball more so than most of the 'countless' midfield players we have in our squad.
The report I saw claims Marcial can play wide on the right, and I did see him do that in the video, though only once. I won't say it's a good signing, but I will say it's one I would have made, maybe even the one I would have made. I think we need pace, we need a backup to Kane, and we want to keep trying to sign the best youth players, so considering he could get minutes on either wing as well as at striker, he ticks all the boxes for me. Of course there's something to be said for a striker with a record of PL success like Ings or Austin. But I wonder how comfortable they would be not starting, and how good they would be as substitutes. The pace of a player like Marcial should be more effective late in the game against tired defenders. Having a player who can both finish and get behind defenders could help open the field for our other players. Did you notice how multiple defenders tended to go after him when he had the ball (including three of Arsenal's ). He clearly frightens people.
