Manchester United look set to appoint Ajax manager Erik ten Hag as their new permanent boss and Tottenham may well be on guard with the club ready to offer a huge transfer war-chest to build his squad.
Harry Kane was a top target of Manchester City's during the summer, with the striker also keen to complete the move at one stage, but now it is the red half of Manchester eyeing up England's captain. According to a report from The Telegraph, United are targeting moves for Kane and Declan Rice in the summer as part of a squad overhaul.
The 28-year-old was eager to leave his boyhood club to pursue titles but was made to stay in north London with City unable to meet the club's transfer demands. After a slow start to the campaign, Kane has rediscovered his form and has had a direct hand in nine goals in his last six Premier League games.
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But any move for Kane could struggle before it gets off the ground. Back in 2020, after Jose Mourinho was brought in to replace Mauricio Pochettino, Andros Townsend claimed that had Spurs moved for Ten Hag, Kane would have left.
“If Spurs had gone for another project, if maybe they had got the Ajax manager in, then maybe he has to leave because he can’t be waiting for or five years to get back to the top and win a trophy,” Townsend told talkSPORT at the time.
“But I’m certain that Jose Mourinho will win a trophy during his time at Spurs. Whether that is the League Cup or the FA Cup or the Premier League and the Champions League, I don’t know. But I feel with the manager that they have, they can fulfil Harry Kane’s ambitions and I hope they do.”
It is of course worth remembering that Ten Hag's stock will have only risen in the time since and that the prospect of being involved in the Dutchman's Old Trafford project may appeal to the striker. But it is interesting to note that, according to Townsend, he was not a manager Kane held in particularly high esteem, despite pushing Spurs all the way in the Champions League semi-final a year earlier.
