Revealed: Tottenham scout demanded double signing of Manchester City forward as part of Harry Kane transfer saga

Manchester City’s interest in former Tottenham striker Harry Kane earlier in the Pep Guardiola era may have eventually come down to their willingness to sell two names.

As City weighed up the possibility of signing Kane to spearhead Pep Guardiola’s attack beyond Sergio Aguero in the summer of 2021, negotiations and plenty of paper talk famously never came to fruition as Tottenham held firm over their talisman’s valuation.

Manchester City would instead turn their attention to other forward options in subsequent transfer windows, eventually landing Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 – a move that has since reshaped the club’s attacking profile.

At the time, Spurs were reluctant to entertain discussions with City, as former chairman Daniel Levy adopted a strict stance on not strengthening a direct Premier League rival. Behind the scenes, however, it now appears as though certain figures were assessing what a potential package deal could look like if an agreement were ever forced.

Key academy talents have always been central to Manchester City’s squad-building philosophy, and the club’s strength in depth at youth level meant rival sides consistently monitored emerging prospects for potential transfer leverage.

Now, speaking as part of the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, former Tottenham director of football and later a scout, David Pleat revealed the two players he advised Levy to secure as part of any deal with City for Harry Kane.

“When they signed [Jack] Grealish for £100 million, that was the end of Harry Kane going to them,” Pleat claimed. “But then, according to Daniel [Levy] – so I’m not out of school here – they [Tottenham] never picked up the phone. It was all paper talk, that £150 million.”

The former Spurs manager continued, “I told Daniel at the time, ‘If you get whatever you think he’s worth or you eventually agree, if you do agree, make sure you get two players from Man City from their academy; [Liam] Delap and [Cole] Palmer’.

“I did say that. As part of a deal. It was obvious. It’s not a secret watching real quality.”

Despite Manchester City’s admiration for Harry Kane, the transfer always appeared difficult due to Tottenham’s stance and the timing of the deal relative to Manchester City’s other business – notably the club-record arrival of Jack Grealish from Aston Villa in 2021.

Many inside the game believed Kane would depart North London eventually, but Spurs’ refusal to negotiate ensured the England captain remained until his eventual Bayern Munich move in 2023.

Had City been willing to entertain losing Cole Palmer and Liam Delap as part of any Kane agreement, it could have dramatically reshaped the Premier League. Palmer has since gone on to become a leading figure for Chelsea and England, while Delap continues to develop amid high expectations at Stamford Bridge.

Manchester City will feel justified in both their refusal to part with key academy assets and their eventual recruitment strategy, given Erling Haaland’s extraordinary impact and Cole Palmer’s £42.5 million sale generating a major profit later in his development.

While the Harry Kane saga is long since over, the newly revealed behind-the-scenes insight highlights just how highly rival clubs regard Manchester City’s young talent, and reinforces how key those decisions were to the current era of success at the Etihad Stadium.