Firstly, finances were a factor. Any deal for Kane was never going to be cheap and United, saddled with Glazer debt, no longer have the capacity to spend dizzying sums on a single individual.
There was also a reluctance to negotiate with Levy. The Tottenham supremo vowed to never sell to United again after Dimitar Berbatov’s controversial move to Manchester in 2008. Luka Modric, Gareth Bale, Toby Alderweireld and Danny Rose have all been denied moves to Old Trafford in the years since.
Chelsea and Arsenal, as Tottenham’s fierce rivals, no doubt felt they stood no chance. If Levy wouldn’t sell to United, he certainly wouldn’t do business with two teams occupying the same city. Still, testing the waters could have prompted interesting results. By making Tottenham an offer simply too good to turn down, perhaps destiny could be changed. Kane’s loyalty does, however, admittedly mean they’d likely have been wasting their time.
Liverpool, these days, splash the cash. Jurgen Klopp once bemoaned that City could spend money his side didn’t have. Deals for Bradley Barcola, Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz over the past year or so mean the goalposts have shifted.
