Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has admitted that he expected Man City to sign Harry Kane during the summer transfer window. City made the England captain their priority transfer target for their striker position during the summer, tabling an eye-watering £128m bid to bring the Tottenham striker to the Etihad Stadium. Spurs however refused to negotiate over a transfer despite Kane ‘s wishes to leave the club and the 28-year-old ended up staying at the club after the deadline passed.
Thomas Tuchel said: “I thought that this would happen. We never had a list with his name on it and I never went to (Chelsea director) Marina (Granovskaia) to tell her to buy him. But the club sorted out the situation. There are many people around players, their agents and advisors and people in between and we had some information from these people. But it was never that close that we had to experience the rivalry (between Tottenham and Chelsea). We know about the rivalry but I had a feeling that it was never that far.”
City ended the summer with Jack Grealish as their only summer senior summer signing, while Spurs were delighted to keep Kane in their squad ahead of the new season.
