Manchester United ‘considering’ Harry Kane as Cristiano Ronaldo’s replacement
Tottenham Hotspur and England striker Harry Kane is reportedly a target for Manchester United as a possible Cristiano Ronaldo replacement.
Ronaldo, 37, ultimately decided to stay put at Old Trafford despite being heavily linked with a summer transfer away from the Red Devils, who missed out on Champions League qualification the previous season.
Despite the fact that the five-time Ballon d'Or winner has less than a year left on his contract, rumours about his future persist.
In eight games across all competitions this season, Ronaldo has only started three times under Erik ten Hag, with his two most recent starts coming in the Europa League.
The Portuguese legend is determined to continue playing at the highest level and fight for silverware, but it remains to be seen whether he will do so with the Red Devils beyond January.
According to Fichajes, Man United, Chelsea and Bayern Munich are the three teams fighting for the signature of Spurs star Kane, with the former identifying the England captain as a replacement for Ronaldo.
Ten Hag will allegedly have around £70m to spend in January, but the potential departure of Ronaldo could see the Dutchman handed an additional £30m.
Ten Hag is set to hold further discussions with the club’s hierarchy regarding transfer business in the winter window, with initial talks having already taken place.
“We have many meetings, we have to improve the structures in and around the club, we will do,” Ten Hag told MUTV.
“We will also look to the window in January or next summer already but also to improve our way of playing by making plans and, of course, this coming period with every third day a game, we have to get ready for that.”
United will likely face stern competition from both Chelsea and Bayern Munich for Kane, with the former reportedly weighing up a possible swap deal involving Romelu Lukaku.
Bayern, meanwhile, are still on the lookout to replace Robert Lewandowski, following his summer move to Barcelona, and although recent reports have suggested that the German giants are ‘determined’ to sign Kane, sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic has played down such speculation.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone at Harry Kane’s camp,” Salihamidzic has told Sport1. “We have faith in our players. Serge [Gnabry], Sadio [Mane], [Eric Maxim] Choupu-Moting and also [Mathys] Tel.
“These are guys who should grow into it. We have eight players for four positions. In the end you have to see what the market has to offer and we didn’t find anyone is better than what was already in our squad.”
Kane is out of contract at Tottenham in the summer of 2024, but the North London outfit are thought to be open to offering the striker a new deal in a bid to fend of interest from elsewhere.
The 29-year-old, who was strongly linked with a switch to Manchester City last summer, has scored six goals in nine appearances for Spurs across all competitions so far this season, taking his overall goal tally with the club to 254 strikes in 395 games.
Tottenham’s No.10 has recorded 189 of his goals in the Premier League, placing him third on the division’s all-time list behind Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208).