Auf Wiedersehen (at last)! Harry Kane and wife Kate jet off from Stansted to Munich as he prepares to complete £100m club transfer – while German fans make alleged ‘jokes’ about the time the deal has taken and how Britons ‘put mint sauce on their food’
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Harry Kane has arrived at Stansted Airport with wife Katie Goodland as he prepares to jet off to Germany for a medical at Bayern Munich.
The England striker is now in the sky hours later than expected due to hold-ups – prompting jokes from the German media about the time it has taken to get the deal over the line.
The sporting press in the country has also made ‘gags’ about British cuisine, poking fun at Britons who ‘put mint sauce on their food’.
Photos show Kane heading to a jet that has been parked on the tarmac at the London airport for hours after negotiations between the two top-flight sides went down to the wire. His wife Katie, a professional fitness coach, followed closely behind.
Kane, 30, has been chased by the Bundesliga champions all summer before finally having a £104million bid accepted yesterday by Tottenham, his boyhood club. He is set to earn an estimated £400,000 a week if the deal goes through.
In a dramatic twist, sources claimed Spurs had blocked Kane from boarding the plane while its chairman Daniel Levy – a notoriously tough negotiator – sought to agree last-minute changes to the deal.
Kane and wife Katie Goodland are seen disembarking from a minivan at Stansted Airport as he prepares to jet off to Germany for a medical at Bayern Munich
Kane is seen heading for the door of a private plane hours later than planned – following reports that Spurs chair Daniel Levy blocked the forward from leaving while he hammered out last minute changes to the deal
Star striker Harry Kane is flying out today as part of the £104m deal Bayern Munich has cut with Tottenham Hotspur
Harry Kane’s plane sits on Stansted tarmac as he prepares to fly to Munich to complete the deal
The home page of Bild, Germany’s most-read paper, shows a picture of MailOnline’s home page with the headline translating as ‘England press bids farewell to Kane!’
German media has started to taunt English fans about Kane leaving the country in favour of Germany, including a dig about Brits putting mint sauce on their food
But the issues have now been resolved and Kane is now set to leave shortly to seal his move to the German giants – five hours later than planned. He had been due to arrive in Munich at 10am local time.
Quizzed by journalists this morning, Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel revealed the deal still had not been concluded.
He said: ‘You probably know more than I do about where he is and what he is doing right now. We’re working hard on it. I can confirm that. But as long as there is no agreement, the coach will not talk about it.’
As the deal nears completion, German publication Frankfurter Rundschau decided to launch an attack on British food and hammer home the German ‘joke’ that mint sauce is poured on everything in the UK to make it taste better.
The article said: ‘For the English Premier League, which starts the season this Friday, Harry Kane is a bitter loss. Unpleasant enough for the powerhouse of world football that a global opponent is currently emerging in Saudi Arabia for whom there really are no financial limits.
‘And while the Premier League remains the most exciting league for now, the fact that the second-best goalscorer in league history prefers to continue his career on the continent doesn’t sit well with the English. But what do they like? A little mint sauce on it, then it will work again.’
The same newspaper did not try and hide their delight at waving goodbye to the transfer saga in a bizarre rant referencing Stockholm Syndrome. They wrote: ‘So goodbye, Kane transfer. We will miss you. We will miss you like a hostage misses their hostage taker.
‘Like getting lost in a wondrous maze, that’s how it was with you, Kane-Transfer, and in between you almost forgot that it would eventually end after all.
‘It no longer seemed to be a question of footballer Harry Kane moving from Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich or maybe not. No, the Kane transfer became an end in itself, it became a self-sufficient genre within the professional football genre, a cross-media theatre play.’
It also accused ‘hard Levy’ of going soft by allowing Kane to leave, writing: ‘And finally Tottenham boss Levy, the old bastard who didn’t want to let poor Harry go to Munich.’
Bild, Germany’s biggest newspaper, also weighed in on the monumental transfer – strongly defending the amount Bayern are spending.
One article said: ‘Is it madness to pay €100m for a 30-year-old who would be available for free in 2024? I say no. Harry Kane is rightly worth so much money to Bayern .
It also said: ‘Bayern is buying a world-class player at the peak of his career.’ It added: ‘Whether 80, 90 or 100 million euros – from the point of view of a rich club like Bayern, that shouldn’t make any difference if you are convinced that you can fill one of the most important positions perfectly for four years.
‘It would be downright negligent to let such a strategic decision fail because of a few million.’
Bild went on to say that Bayern Munich have failed in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in the past three seasons and that Kane’s fee would be refinanced if he can fire them to the semi-finals every year.
The defensive article added: ‘The whole Bundesliga will benefit from Kane’s popularity. 100 million euros is a hell of a lot of money. But FC Bayern invested it damn well.’
Harry Kane’s move to Bayern Munich is in doubt as Tottenham look to renegotiate the £100million deal
Kane with his wife, Katie Goodland, and their three children – Ivy, Vivienne Jane and Louis
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy (left) has ignored Bayern’s deadline for a response to their offer. Pictured is Bayern’s coach, Thomas Tuchel
Another German publication had a more pessimistic view of the signing, as they referenced AI evaluations which claimed Kane will have ‘no positive influence’ on Bayern Munich.
The article said: ‘If it is up to the artificial intelligence of the company “Plaier”, which publishes the podcast “Maik mit AI” together with football presenter Maik Nöcker , then nothing will happen at FC Bayern.’
It added that AI said the fee was ‘far too high’. ‘Based on the database, a transfer fee of 64 million euros would have been appropriate due to his age and the short contract period,’ it added.
‘Former Bayern professional Markus Babbel also thinks the transfer fee is far too high. “I’m not completely convinced. I’ve seen a lot of Tottenham games and they just play different football than Bayern ,” he said in an interview with ran.’
Kane’s future has been a subject of fascination ever since 2021 when he first announced his intention to leave Tottenham to give him the chance of winning silverware – something that has repeatedly eluded the North London club.
His fate has attracted the attention of many with only a passing interest in football due to his status as England’s captain – and the national side’s all-time record goalscorer.
Kane is expected to fly on this private jet – seen on the runway at Stansted today
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Kane’s repeated attempts to leave Tottenham have been one of English football’s longest running transfer sagas.
The striker first opened up on the issue in 2021, telling Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville that he’d informed Daniel Levy about his intention to walk away.
READ MORE – England captain Harry Kane, wife Kate and their kids will swap London for a luxury villa in the ‘Bavarian Hollywood’
‘For sure, it’s a moment in my career where I have to kind of reflect and see where I’m at and have a good, honest conversation with the chairman,’ he said at the time.
That summer Kane was set to go to Manchester City on a reported £400,000-a-week contract, but the move never materialised.
He was the subject of interest from Manchester United earlier in the summer, but they opted instead to target less costly alternatives in a bid to stay within their transfer budget.
Levy is believed to value the striker closer to £120m, leading him to resist any deal below this level.
But he hand may have been forced by the fact that Kane is about to enter the final year of his Tottenham contract, meaning he would be free to leave for nothing in 12 months’ time.
Bayern were ecstatic when Spurs reported their offer for Kane, with executive board member Andreas Jung calling the moment ‘something special’ for the club.
‘It is the first time that we pay on that level for a player,’ he said.
‘For us, it is something special. It shows we are competitive with the others. We will have a team that has the chance to win in every competition.’
Kane with his wife, Katie, after England beat Wales 3-0 at the Qatar 2022 World Cup
Ms Goodland – who is currently pregnant with their fourth child – was recently seen looking for houses in Munich, according to reports in the local media
Kane’s flight had been scheduled to depart at 7:30am. It was then slated to leave at 12:15pm before being cancelled
The Tottenham star’s future in north London has been the centre of debate this summer following weeks of negotiations between club chiefs.
After agreeing a £100million fee, Mail Sport revealed that talks between Bayern, Tottenham and Kane were taking place late into Thursday as they looked to finalise a deal.
There were hopes in Germany that Kane’s deal would be announced today and that the player would be officially unveiled prior to the German Super Cup tomorrow.
Mail Sport understands that Kane would have needed to be registered by 2pm (UK time) to play against RB Leipzig tomorrow, a deadline he is now unlikely to meet.
After the two parties struck a deal, Mail Sport revealed that contractual and financial points between Kane and Tottenham were still being concluded on Thursday, while issues related to the distribution of intermediary fees were also being ironed out.
Bayern have been very public in their pursuit of Kane, with honorary president Uli Hoeness and chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen both commenting on the striker.
It has left Kane in an uncomfortable situation and frustrated Tottenham in the process.
Katie has already been looking at properties in the exclusive Munich suburb of Grünwald – the one pictured is an example of a luxury property just sold in the area dubbed Bavarian Hollywood
The town, which is Germany’s richest and home to many footballers and film stars, boasts a number of enormous properties priced at £6million and upwards
The super-exclusive homes of timber and glass are described as being for art lovers
Rumours Kane was about to move to Bayern intensified late last month when his pregnant wife Katie Goodland was spotted scouting for homes in the city, according to local media.
Earlier this week, a new report claimed that the club had already secured a luxury villa for him in Grunwald, a millionaire’s enclave of Grunwald to the south of the city.
The secluded town, dubbed the ‘Bavarian Hollywood’ is ranked as Germany’s wealthiest municipality.
And if Kane does accept Bayern’s offer of the luxury village, the family will be settling in with the club’s current winger, Leroy Sane, and its former chairman, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich also moved into the posh suburb recently, according to Bild.
Grünwald properties currently available include a Bauhaus villa, with a home cinema, sauna, jacuzzi, outdoor and indoor swimming pools with a sprawling garden.
Another six-bed property, going for £5.5million features a fireplace, indoor pool, sauna, spa and home gym.
While some homes appear to be flash, white mansions, looking as though they belong in California’s Beverly Hills, others homes seem to be inspired by Alpine chalets, with roofs that appear to look thatched.
Kane and his wife Katie Goodland, who is currently pregnant with their fourth child
The England captain pictured hugging one of his young daughters following the World Cup in 2022
Kane pictured with his wife Katie and children Ivy, six, Vivienne, five, and Louis, two
The Bayern Munich squad raise glasses of beer as they pose for a photoshoot in traditional Bavarian Lederhosen in August 2022
Some designs on the Meleven development, priced at £18million, are described as ‘art lovers’ homes’, kitted out with wooden beams, glass ceilings and plush gardens.
The town, which is located 12km southeast of Munich, is Germany’s third largest city.
While full of glitz and glam, it is perhaps best known for Oktoberfest, a 16-day bacchanal of beer, bangers and brass bands.
Despite its name the festival actually begins in September, and now attracts six million visitors to the city.
Footballers at Bayern are also among those the festival attracts onto the streets, with stars including Thomas Mueller, Kingsley Coman, Serge Gnabry and Leon Goretzka all making appearances in recent years.
Last year the entire team dressed in traditional Lederhosen to get into the Bavarian spirit for a photoshoot.
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