The scrawl on the wall is beginning to as if Manchester City’s chances of signing Harry Kane this summer are not looking too hot, but then that certainly isn’t anywhere near the end of the world for them or in their hunt for continued success this season.
The indicators so far are that the much-anticipated, biggest transfer saga of the summer looks like it is about to hit a rather premature and anti-climactic end as Pep Guardiola closes in on the signing of Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish to add to his already stacked creative front line.
MEN Sport are of the inclination that will likely bring to an end City’s chase of England skipper Kane for financial reasons. But with ace striker Sergio Aguero already strutting his stuff in his new Barcelona colors, there seems to be a gaping hole in the striker position for City to contend with if they don’t get their Cityzen Kane this season. At first glance, at least.
There is always the potential scenario that City and Guardiola go for a different striker, with the likes of Danny Ings linked in the past for a much smaller fee. But then again it has never really been in City’s nature to settle for stop-gap signees in the transfer market, so why would they change their approach now?
Do they even need a new striker in the first place? On the basis of last season’s performance, probably not.
During the 2020/21 season, City played just one game shy of the maximum they could have featured in. They won the Carabao Cup for a fourth consecutive season, won the Premier League at a canter finishing 12 points ahead of closest challengers Manchester United and made it to the Champions League final for the first time in their history. The only game they didn’t play in was the FA Cup final after being eliminated by Chelsea in the semis.
City had seven players last season who hit double figures for goals in all competitions with Ilkay Gundogan (17), Phil Foden (16), Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus (14), Ferran Torres (13) and Kevin De Bruyne (10) combining for a whopping 98 strikes between them.
And now iff you add Grealish’s creativity and goal threat to that ensemble, there’s no reason that tally couldn’t be matched or even improved upon.
Now obviously, signing the Spurs’ skipper would take that City attack to a whole new level but moving heaven and earth for the deal would probably be overdoing it.
Sure, Kane has the unquestioned ability to transform an attack at any time but Guardiola’s teams have always been more about getting the maximum from as many players as possible at the same time rather than focusing on just one main player.
Guardiola has successfully structured City’s style of play to be one where they are always more likely to score more goals than their rivals. They are in possession of the ball for the vast majority of the game, have the most talent of the two teams on the pitch more often than not and they also have the deepest squad with what many regard as the best manager on the sideline.
Hence, with all that in their favor, waiting a year for a new top striker isn’t ideal in any sense of the word and if they had the choice they’d certainly rather bring Kane in now than not. But it isn’t the end of the world if they fail to get it done this summer.
Next summer Kane will turn 29 and will surely be competing in the 2022 World Cup at the end of the calendar year. He will be hungrier than ever, and even more determined to leave as the fine sand in his hourglass begins to run out.
But City also realizes that he won’t be the only option. Erling Haaland’s £75m release clause will become active the following year, while they’d also have a new opportunity to sign someone like Romelu Lukaku.
Last season City were three wins away from winning the lot without a particular focal point in attack and now they’re still improving the squad with Grealish, so maybe waiting a year to see how their striker options pan out in 2022 may not be such a bad thing after all.