England's national football team captain Harry Kane is expected to depart Tottenham Hotspur for Manchester City in a Premier League-record 160 million pounds (about $220.3 million) deal this summer, The Sun reported on Thursday.
According to the report, Kane informed Spurs early this summer of his intention to leave the club in quest of trophies, with Premier League champions City his favored destination.
When speaking to Tottenham's official website about players who might be the subject of transfer market bids, chairman Daniel Levy said last month that "what other clubs want is not always possible to achieve," according to the Daily Mail report.
But, according to The Sun, last week, Levy quite unexpectedly changed his mind and agreed to let 27-year-old Kane join a Premier League competitor, with the England captain apparently poised to earn 400,000 pounds ($550,000) per week at the club's Etihad Stadium. Levy reportedly called Kane and his older brother and agent Charlie to inform them that he had changed his mind about only allowing him to leave for a European club.
The length of Kane's contract with City has yet to be determined, according to the outlet, although it is expected to last four or five seasons.
"Obviously Harry was delighted because he never wanted to leave Spurs, his beloved boyhood club, on bad terms," an undisclosed source familiar with the situation is quoted in the report as saying. "By waiting until now, he has probably put another £20million or so on his price tag. A contract with Man City has not yet been signed but this is Harry’s preference. It is also preferable from Spurs’ viewpoint."
According to UK media, Tottenham rejected a 100 million pounds approach from Manchester City for Kane last month, and manager Nuno Espirito Santo said last week at a press conference that he was certain Kane would be devoted to the club.
Kane performed very well during the recent Euro 2020 championship, scoring four goals at the tournament to help England reach the final before suffering a defeat in a penalty shootout to Italy at the same ground.
And according to the outlet, City and Brazil striker Gabriel Jesus might be Kane's replacement at the north London club.
The estimated 160 million pound deal for Kane would reportedly break the English transfer record, which is now held by Manchester United, which paid Juventus 89 million pounds for Paul Pogba in 2016. The move would also be a Tottenham record, with Kane's rumored fee well exceeding the 86 million pounds Tottenham received for Gareth Bale when he joined Real Madrid in 2013.