Man City Whiffs on Kane, Sets Sights on Ronaldo
Yet another Englishman has learned the hard way that gentlemen's agreements don't necessarily amount to much when the stakes are high in Jolly Olde.
Take the year 1066, just possibly the most influential in English history. King Edward the Confessor didn't leave a bloodline heir, so after he died, two of his main successors -- Harold Godwinson and Viking descendant William of Normandy -- claimed they had gentlemen's agreements with him.
That didn't work out so well, so the matter came down to what was tangible, and that was the Battle of Hastings:
There's much more to the events of 1066 -- three battles in all -- but the bottom line is William ended the reign of Anglo-Saxon kings as well as the Dark Ages (476-1066), ushering in the Middle Ages (1066-1485) as history's last foreign invader of the British Isles.
Every English schoolboy learns this lesson. The issue is whether or not any of them learns from it.
Harry Kane clearly didn't.
Dude's a homegrown Tottenham Hotspur, but he'd grown weary of looking at an empty trophy case and wanted out. He thought he had a gentleman's agreement with club chairman Daniel Levy. Maybe he sorta did, but Levy had Kane on the dotted line with an extremely tangible six-year deal that paid the striker £200,000 a week.
Advantage: Levy.
It probably cushioned the blow of being boxed in when Spurs -- under new manager Nuno Espírito Santo -- had his crew looking pretty damn good in their 1-0 victory over City, of all clubs.
So Kane put as much of a positive spin as he could on announcing the obvious. He was staying with Tottenham this season.
At least, he is until the January 2022 transfer window opens. City may be back with a richer offer. Perhaps others will be knocking on Levy's door, too. The tables and Cup competion results will definitely be front and center then.
The current window slams shut at the end of this month, so there's not much time for Citizens to look elsewhere.
They let it be known that PSG's Kylian Mbappé would be most welcome in the Sky Blue sector of England's second-largest city. However, dude's on record of preferring a move to Spain.
It's nothing to do with Lionel Messi joining the ranks. It's just more accurate to say Mbappé's mind wasn't changed when the Flea arrived.
Real Madrid tried to swoop in with a €160m bid, but Les Parisiens said no.
Undaunted, the Citizens turned their attention to Turin, where a more promising possibility beckons.
Cristiano Ronaldo is already tired of Juventus, and it appears Le Zebre is more than ready to get his €30m wage bill off their books. They're reported ready to let him walk for €25m. City wants to take him on a free transfer.
Dude's 36 now, and his deal with Juve expires at the end of this season. They're clearly looking to save money by doing a deal now, so all appearances are there's enough motivation on all sides to get something done in the next few days.
Reading between the lines, even at this state of Ronaldo's career, it's sorta surprising that he'd be a big club's third choice. City's treating it that way, so Juve's the party that'll have to give ground.
Dude's not exactly the prototypical forward that one would expect Pep Guardiola to pursue, but what the Portuguese international may have lost in explosiveness, he's gained in cagey positioning. With the service he'd get at City, he'll still light up the scoreboard.
In the defending Premiership champion's opinion, he may not be a Kane or Mbappé, but for where they are right now, he'll do. How time marches on.
And that's as tangible as it gets.
RIP, Charlie.