Bayern Munich are understood to have set a deadline of midnight on Friday for Tottenham Hotspur to accept their latest offer for Harry Kane.
The German giants are considering turning to other transfer targets if Tottenham do not finally agree a deal.
All parties – including the player – want Kane’s future resolved as soon as possible and certainly before Spurs’ first Premier League game of the season next Sunday away to Brentford.
If a deal is not agreed to sell Kane to Bayern, the striker is expected to see out the final year of his contract at Spurs and leave for free next summer.
There have been no indications that Kane, who turned 30 last week, wants to extend his stay at Spurs any longer despite the club’s attempts to get him to sign a new deal.
The England captain has been the No.1 target of Thomas Tuchel all summer but the Bayern coach will accept defeat and move on to trying to sign other players if there is no agreement in the coming hours.
In saying that, there remains cautious confidence a deal can still be struck and the clubs are moving towards an agreement with Bayern prepared to pay a club record fee for Kane. That record currently stands at €80 million (£68 million) paid for centre-back Lucas Hernandez four years ago.
It is expected that Bayern will have to offer around €100 million (£86.1million) if not higher, with add-ons, to persuade Spurs to sell Kane who, they believe, is keen to make the move.
There is understood to have been a difference of around £20 million in what Bayern were prepared to offer and what Spurs would accept when face-to-face talks were held on Monday.
Negotiations took place in London between Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and Bayern’s chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen and technical director Marco Neppe.
The talks ended in deadlock but Bayern were heartened by the fact Levy was at least willing to meet them and discuss Kane’s future.
It does remain to be seen, however, how Levy will react to being set what appears to be a deadline. Bayern want to receive encouragement or will withdraw their offer.
Tuchel wants Kane in his squad before Bayern play the DFL-Supercup against RB Leipzig next Saturday. Their first Bundlesiga game takes place the following Friday.
Despite closing in on Alan Shearer’s Premier League goals record – he is 48 goals short of surpassing that total of 260 – Kane is willing to move overseas in pursuit of silverware.
Tuchel is thought to have told him they can win the Champions League together while Kane could still eventually return to England and break Shearer’s record.
Having sold former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane to Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr for £24 million, Bayern’s funds to pay for Kane have been boosted. But if they do not agree a deal with Spurs they must quickly look at alternatives targets and so have set an unofficial deadline.
Either way it appears another Kane transfer saga, having tried to leave for Manchester City two years ago, is quickly reaching its endgame.
If Bayern do not sign Kane this month it would be possible for them to agree a pre-contract with him in the January window ahead of a free transfer in the summer.
However, Kane may want to wait and evaluate his options if he becomes a free agent. It would, for a start, make it easier for him to stay in the Premier League. Manchester United, for example, are huge admirers of Kane but decided against bidding during this window as they did not receive encouragement that a deal could be agreed.
