Tottenham Hotspur could be set to keep hold of Harry Kane as Manchester United are "prepared to explore other options" in the summer, per transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.
Tottenham Hotspur transfer news – Harry Kane
Tottenham's all-time leading goalscorer has been linked with moves away from N17 before, but the recent links to United, coupled with his contract running down, felt different.
As dubbed by fellow striker Chris Wood (via Eurosport), the 'monster' has scored a ridiculous 280 goals in his 435 career appearances for Spurs, with 64 assists to boot.
This consistent output from the 6 foot 2 forward has led other clubs to monitor his situation, notably European royalty, Real Madrid.
The Spanish side have been reportedly interested in Kane since the departure of their own legendary striker, Karim Benzema.
The vacant number nine shirt at Los Blancos looked like the perfect opportunity for both Kane to move onto bigger things and for Spurs to avoid selling to a rival.
However, it appears like the Spanish club have pulled out of a potential deal because of the costs involved.
According to the Daily Mail, Spurs are looking for a fee of close to £100m for their number nine in the summer.
What has Fabrizio Romano said about Harry Kane to Manchester United?
Romano gave the update that United fans were dreading, and Spurs fans were hoping for this morning, the news that the Red Devils were prepared to cool their interest in Harry Kane.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said: "Harry Kane is considered the perfect striker by Erik ten Hag. He is a big fan of Harry Kane. He considers Harry Kane as the perfect kind of number nine for the idea of football that he has, but we always said it's not going to be easy to negotiate with Tottenham.
"And today [Wednesday], we can confirm that Manchester United, after internal meetings, are prepared to explore other options for a new striker because they believe that Harry Kane is a really difficult target."
Romano goes on to explain the two major roadblocks that United see with this deal: "They believe that Tottenham have no intention of negotiating with Man United, they don't want to sell the player to Manchester United, and so the feeling at the club is that it's better to maybe look at some other option."
The second issue is price, with Romano adding: "The price, because they feel in any case, even if Tottenham would open the door for the exit of Harry Kane, it's too expensive."
How good has Harry Kane been for Tottenham this year?
England's captain and all-time leading goalscorer has had a frankly ridiculous individual season this year.
It has been massively overshadowed by the inhuman exploits of Erling Haaland at Manchester City and by the generally poor showing by Spurs as a whole, but as an individual, he has been unreal.
According to WhoScored, the Walthamstow-born striker has averaged a seriously impressive rating of 7.51 across his 38 appearances in the league this year.
His underlying statistics are fantastic as well.
According to FBref, who compare players in a similar position across Europe's top five leagues, Kane ranks in the top 4% for progressive passes, the top 10% for shot-creating actions and the top 14% for expected goals, all per 90.
It's easy to understand why the club don't want to lose him this year, even if it means he leaves for free next summer.