Former Burnley boss Sean Dyche has revealed that the Clarets could have signed Harry Kane for just £7million before his big breakthrough at Tottenham - but the club couldn't afford to meet Spurs' demands.
Kane has evolved into a household name at Tottenham, but he was a late bloomer. The 29-year-old enjoyed successful loan spells in the EFL at Leyton Orient and Millwall as a teenager but failed to muscle his way into the first-team fold at Spurs until the 2014/15 season - almost three years after his stint in the Championship with the Lions.
Dyche, who had guided Burnley back to the top-flight, had identified Kane as a potential marquee signing back in the summer of 2014 and was hopeful of doing a deal for the Tottenham academy graduate, who had failed to impress during stints at Norwich and Leicester City.
However, the 51-year-old - who was sacked by the Clarets after a decade at the helm earlier this year - has claimed that the club were unable to fund a multi-million pound switch for Kane; a deal which would have smashed the club's transfer record at the time.
Dyche told The Fozcast : "I phoned up about him and at the time, I think it was Tim Sherwood, immediately said £7m and we were in the market for like £3m."
Former Watford shot-stopper Ben Foster quickly noted that £7m was a substantial fee for a player who, at the time, had very little top-flight experience. Dyche responded: "Unproven, exactly, and you're Burnley. I went to the board and they said 'we can’t do that.'
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"Now you might have even got, I don't know, five plus add-ons but at the time we were looking at I think George Boyd [who would become] record signing at the time for like £3m, so we just couldn't do it."
While Burnley did manage to acquire George Boyd in a club-record deal from Hull on deadline day, Kane went on to have a stunning season for Spurs after the Londoners priced their Premier League rivals out of a move.
Kane netted 31 goals in all competitions to fire Spurs to a fifth-placed finish and cement his spot in the team moving forward.
And since that breakthrough campaign, Kane has gone from strength to strength and is currently second on the club's list of all-time top scorers behind the late Jimmy Greaves after netting 254 goals in 390 games.
