Manchester United: Significant faction inside club don’t want to sign Harry Kane
Some Manchester United officials want to wait for Antoine Griezmann
Jose Mourinho may believe that Harry Kane is the perfect number nine to lead Manchester United, but not everyone at Old Trafford agrees. There are significant forces inside the club who would prefer to wait another year to sign Antoine Griezmann instead.
Reports from England link United with a £100 bid for Tottenham’s prolific front man. The stories claim that Mourinho has instructed Ed Woodward and company to pay whatever it takes to pry Kane away from Daniel Levy. The move is unlikely to come off due to Spurs’ refusal to negotiate with their Premier League rivals.
Those mechanics of the deal aren’t terribly interesting or surprising. The juicy part of the story is the claim that not everyone at United is convinced that Kane should be signed. In particular, the powers that be within United’s commercial division don’t believe the 23-year-old centre forward has what it takes to serve as the face of the club internationally.
It’s true that Kane isn’t what you’d call a polished spokesperson. He’s improved his dealings with the media over the past few years, but he’s not going to be renowned for his oratory skills anytime soon. Kane is a prolific goalscorer and not a dynamic speaker.
This illustrates just how complicated life for Mourinho can be at United. He’s a great football manager because of his pragmatism. The Portuguese gaffer isn’t motivated by anything other than a player’s ability to help him win football matches. It must infuriate him that some club officials want to alter the club’s transfer policy based on the potential commercial popularity of his transfer targets.
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It also should give Kane serious second thoughts about ever leaving his North London club. Absolutely no one at Spurs is concerned about his ability to help the club become a worldwide brand. Officials at Tottenham want Kane to help them win football matches and hopefully, a trophy case full of silverware. They’ll count on his football ability to help them increase revenues and grow their bottom line.
In fairness to those tasked with increasing revenues at United, it’s harder to drastically increase the financial standing there than at Tottenham. They’ve earned the right to higher standards in a sense. Only marketable superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo or Paul Pogba can really enhance their commercial interests.
On the other hand, the further United stray from prioritizing football the more precarious their competitive situation will become. The club have already fallen from their lofty perch on top of the Premier League table. Their one and only priority should be providing Mourinho the players he needs to win the league once again.
Next: Manchester United turn to Barcelona for left back
Manchester United’s commercial concerns didn’t cost them Harry Kane, but it may cost them success on the pitch soon. Club officials would be wise to allow Mourinho to refocus the entire organisation on football before they slip further in the standings.