How hard did Man City push for Harry Kane?
Martin Macdonald
- 19 Feb 2022 11:23 GMT
- 3 min read
Manchester City were desperate to add a new world-class striker to their ranks over the summer period following the departure of Sergio Aguero.
The legendary Argentine left the club at the expiration of his contract to sign for Barcelona, though sadly would have to retire during the season due to medical issues surrounding his heart.
Though City were linked with Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, they made Tottenham's Harry Kane their number one target for the centre-forward role at the Etihad.
Reports over the summer suggested that City had bid as much as £150 million for Kane, only for Tottenham to continually reject their advances.
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Guardiola has revealed that City made four bids in total for Kane, and that he wasn't sure how his team would perform without the England international arriving from Spurs.
"Now you can say, 'Harry Kane didn’t come and everything is going well' but at the time I didn’t know it," the City boss said ahead of City versus Tottenham this weekend.
"We tried but Tottenham were clear that it was not going to happen.
"When that happens two, three, four times, it’s over. After that we saw the squad and we were not sure. We then lost at Spurs and against Leicester in the Community Shield.
"I never was disappointed in what the club cannot do in the transfer market. I’ve never created a fire here. When we have some talks and we cannot agree, we do it internally."
New signing Julian Alvarez impressing
In the January transfer window, Man City did secure a new centre-forward, though it is one for the future in the form of River's Julian Alvarez.
The talented Argentine will join City at the end of the campaign after being loan back out to River.
Guardiola, for one, is excited at this particular piece of business conducted by the club.
"The club is always working, it never stops," he added. "If five players say they want to leave, we have to be ready.
"Julian scored three goals in the last game for River Plate and Man City made an incredible deal because he is a player who moves really well.
"He scores are like Jamie Vardy. We’ll see what happens in the future."
