Ange Postecoglou, the Tottenham Hotspur manager, has questioned the manner of Bayern Munich’s public pursuit of Harry Kane after the striker scored four times in a pre-season game on Sunday.
As uncertainty about Kane’s future in north London continues to dominate the summer transfer window, Postecoglu was asked about the approaches of the German side, who put a deadline last Friday night for Tottenham to accept their latest offer.
“That’s up to Bayern to decide,” said Postecoglu, who was keen to point out the 30-year-old still has a year left on his contract. “If that’s the way they want to conduct things, it’s not up to me to judge that. It doesn’t affect me.
“I think what is factual right now is that he is a contracted player of our football club. I certainly wouldn’t talk about contracted players at other football clubs but I’m not at Bayern mate so they can go the way they want.”
Kane, who was handed the captain’s armband on the Sunday in the absence of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, started the scoring in the 5-1 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk at the Tottenham Stadium with a penalty in the 38th minute after James Maddison was brought down in the area.
Shakhtar levelled the score on the cusp of half-time with a close-range header from Kevin Kelsy. But Kane put his side back in front in the 50th minute, combining again with Maddison to nod in a header at the back post from his England team-mate’s back cross.
Spurs’ record goalscorer fired home again to complete his hat-trick five minutes later after being played through by Dejan Kulusevski. He then added one more to his tally in the 97th minute when a curling effort from Manor Solomon rebounded, gifting him a close-range tap in.
When Postecoglou replaced Kane a minute later, the forward left the pitch to a standing ovation which he greeted with applause. He then returned to the field to applaud fans after the final whistle. The victory marked the new manager’s first match in charge at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Kane has been the subject of transfer interest from Bayern Munich all summer and made their latest bid on Friday.
Telegraph Sport revealed that Tottenham owner Daniel Levy ignored Bayern’s take-it-or-leave-it deal, and it is understood that the offer fell short of Tottenham’s €100 million (£86.1 million) valuation for the 30-year-old striker.
Speaking after the game, Postecoglou appeared to criticise the interim transfer cut-off imposed by Bayern, saying: “From my perspective I don’t know what deadlines means. We know there’s one deadline and that’s the end of the transfer window. Beyond that, I’m in open dialogue with Harry and with the club on a regular basis.”
Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel has been pushing to sign Kane and sanctioned the sale of ex-Liverpool forward Sadio Mané to Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr for £24 million in order to boost the club’s funds to enable the move.
If Kane does not sign a new deal at Tottenham, he could sign a pre-contract agreement with a foreign club as early as January, before leaving for nothing next summer as he is in the final year of his contract at the club.
