In an alternate universe, Harry Kane has won three Premier League titles and continued to smash home goals in England.
As a substitute, Tottenham rebuffed 4 bids from Manchester City in the course of the summer transfer window in 2021 to maintain their talisman in north London.
Not even an eye-watering £100million bid from City was enough to twist Tottenham’s arm.
Nevertheless, Rory Jennings believes City must have tested Tottenham’s resolve much more with a much bigger bid.
“I feel they made a mistake, Manchester City, all those years ago not signing Kane after they could have done,” Jennings said on talkSPORT’s Transfer Insiders.
“But they did their best.”
City boss Pep Guardiola later opened up on the Kane saga from his side and insisted he ‘never was dissatisfied’ on the club’s inability to land his top goal.
“Now you may say, ‘Harry Kane didn’t come and all the pieces goes well’, but on the time I didn’t understand it,” Guardiola said in 2021.
“We tried, but Tottenham were clear that it was not going to occur.
“When that happens two, three, 4 times, it’s over.
“After that we saw the squad and we weren’t so sure. We then lost at Spurs and against Leicester within the Community Shield.
“I never was dissatisfied in what the club cannot do within the transfer market. I’ve never created a hearth here. When we now have some talks and we cannot agree, we do it internally.”
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Although City boss Pep Guardiola didn’t land a superstar striker in the summertime of 2021, he managed to accomplish that a yr later in the shape of Erling Haaland for £51m.
The Norwegian has proved to be considered one of the shrewdest acquisitions of the Guardiola era having scored a staggering 124 goals in 146 appearances across all competitions.
Haaland’s impressive haul has also fired City to 2 Premier League titles, an FA Cup, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
Despite Haaland’s brilliance within the box, Jennings emphatically stated Kane remained a superior player.
But he also noted it will have been incredibly unlikely for City to have ever paired Haaland and Kane in the identical strike force.
“If the role within the team is there for him, because simply being the most effective doesn’t suggest that you certainly get within the team or the team desires to sign you,” Jennings said.
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“For instance, with Erling Haaland. After all, Harry Kane is a sensational footballer and much better, far superior to anything Erling Haaland could offer.
“In the event you’ve got Erling Haaland, you almost certainly haven’t got Harry Kane as well.
“There must be room for him within the team.”
As for Kane, he remained with Tottenham until August 2023 when he got his move away to Bayern Munich.
The England captain has since shattered countless records within the Bundesliga because of his 85 goals in 95 games.
Kane also ended his lengthy wait for silverware because of Bayern winning the 2024/25 Bundesliga.