Former Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has opened up on the club’s failed pursuit of Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur three years ago.
Kane chase
Kane will likely represent the greatest ‘what if’ for United, who had the opportunity to sign him in 2023 prior to his transfer to Bayern Munich.
Having failed to secure a move to Manchester City, Kane made it clear that he no longer wanted to stay at Tottenham Hotspur. United explored a move for him but eventually showed little appetite to deal with then-chairman Daniel Levy.
This left the door wide open for Bayern to swoop in and land the England captain, who has gone to another level since moving to the Bundesliga.
Kane has scored 157 goals in 155 games for Bayern, lifting the league title twice. He is also a strong favourite to win the Ballon d’Or this year.
Meanwhile, United signed Rasmus Hojlund from Atalanta, a transfer best left undiscussed. The Dane is now at Napoli after United cut their losses, and the club remain in need of a striker, with Benjamin Sesko and Joshua Zirkzee yet to demonstrate reliability.
Ten Hag spoke to Laurie Whitwell of The Athletic and revealed that he pushed for United to sign Kane, who was willing to make the switch to Old Trafford. However, United deemed the operation too expensive.
Failed attempt
Ten Hag told Whitwell, “I said to them, ‘I want only one player — and you know who.'”
“I fought for it. I heard that he was very positive, but I never spoke with him about the issue. I don’t know how the decision process went with John, Richard, the Glazers.”
Ten Hag was told no.
“They came to the conclusion. I don’t have the insights in the financials.”
United additionally missed out on Frenkie de Jong and Declan Rice during Ten Hag’s spell in charge. Both midfielders have since claimed titles and played at the highest level with Barcelona and Arsenal respectively.
“So our identity should be dynamic, attacking football, counter-press, and that is what Richard and John demanded me to do. Play possession in the opponent’s half. Of course they want to win. Old Trafford is the Theatre of Dreams. They want adventure football. You then need the profiles.”
“For me, you need the ball-playing centre-back and you need a ball-winning centre-half also able to play on a high line. I said for the first season, ‘Centre-half, there’s a problem, centre-midfield, there is a problem, and especially I need a strategist. Then we need goals’. And that was the biggest issue in all my three years: goals.”
He said of De Jong, “Everyone’s thinking the manager is doing the negotiations, that I’m involved in financial issues, but I was never. Of course, I did my best; I set up meetings with him, where it was Richard and John involved as well, to pursue him to come over. He could have been very important building the team, not only that year but for the future. But we didn’t make it.”
United then turned their attention to Rice.
“The issue was that West Ham didn’t want to let him go. I think we could have done more to test. We were on one page, they tried, but I don’t know how the process went. The point is, at United you need outstanding players.”
United are next in action on Wednesday when they face Como in the Champions League.