If Harry Kane opts to stay at Spurs would that really be so wrong?

Striker has chance to join Bayern Munich but his dilemma shows a footballer’s life is not always about stats or silverware

FAREWELL? Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur waves to the fans as he does a lap around the stadium after the final whistle during the pre-season friendly match between Tottenham Hotspur and Shakhtar Donetsk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on August 06, 2023 in England. (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)

What matters in football? What is the game about? Aside, that is, from making enormous sums of money, or even bigger sums if you’re prepared to sell out completely and become the agent of a repressive petrostate. Even if you accept Danny Blanchflower’s dictum that the game is about glory, it’s perhaps not as straightforward as he suggested it was to define what that means.

On Thursday morning, Bayern Munich and Tottenham agreed a deal of more than £86m for Harry Kane, a remarkable figure for a player entering the final year of his contract. But Kane is a remarkable player, an all-round striker who has scored at least 17 goals in every season since he became a first-team regular in 2014-15. And that consistency is all the more eye-catching because he has done it while playing for Tottenham, a team who in that time have won nothing, who are consistent only in their inconsistency.