Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou insists only one transfer deadline counts as he aimed a thinly-veiled dig at Bayern Munich’s public pursuit of Harry Kane after the forward scored four goals against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Kane put the uncertainty over his future to one side to produce a classic display of predatory finishing in what could prove to be his final appearance in Spurs’ colours.
Bayern are reported to have lodged their latest offer for Kane on Friday and an apparent self-imposed deadline of midnight was set by the German club, but there has been no further news on the outcome of that bid and Kane grabbed a hat-trick in 55 minutes of a 5-1 friendly win over Shakhtar.
Kane added another goal in the 79th-minute before he left the pitch a minute later to a standing ovation following more chants of ‘he’s one of our own’ and at the conclusion of the clash the club’s record goal-scorer walked around the pitch to clap all four corners of the ground in what felt a significant moment.
“We know there’s one deadline and that’s the end of the transfer window,” Postecoglou pointed out.
“Beyond that, I’m in open dialogue with Harry and with the club on a regular basis. I’ve said to them that if the status quo changes then inform me.
“I don’t need to know about the comings and goings in between. I just want to deal with what’s in front of me because, irrespective of the outcome of that, I’m building a team here. I can’t wait (around) for a decision either way to get going.
“We don’t have the time or the luxury to do that. I’m working with what’s in front of me. You saw today that Harry certainly is invested in what we’re doing and we’ll keep on doing that unless something changes.”
Bayern have been public about their desire to sign Kane all summer, with their honorary president Uli Hoeness and president Herbert Hainer talking openly in the media last month about trying to sign the England captain.
Postecoglou added: “That’s up to Bayern to decide. If that’s the way they want to conduct things, it’s not up to me to judge that.
“It doesn’t affect me. I don’t sit there on a daily basis and worry about what other clubs are doing.
“I think what is factual right now is that he is a contracted player of our football club.
“I certainly wouldn’t talk about contracted players at other football clubs but I’m not at Bayern mate so they can go the way they want.”
While a lot of the focus on Sunday was on Kane, amongst the spectators at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was Wolfsburg centre-back Micky van de Ven.
Netherlands defender Van de Ven is scheduled to have a medical at Spurs’ training ground on Monday.
But asked about Van de Ven, Postecoglou replied: “It hasn’t been done yet, so it’s not right for me to talk about but there’s no doubt we need some bolstering in that central defensive area.
“Hopefully we’ll get one or two done in the next couple of days to bolster us in that area.”
While Van de Ven’s future looks certain to be at Tottenham, Kane’s club for this campaign remains up in the air.
Postecoglou refused to be drawn into the significance of Kane walking alone to applaud all four corners of the stadium at full-time.
“You are reading something into it, aren’t you,” he added.
“I don’t even know what’s in Harry’s mind, let alone anyone else’s. I think all these things will obviously play out over the next period, we’ll deal with what happens from there.
“From my perspective, I’ve got a team to build here. Today showed me that we’ve made some progress but there’s still a lot of work to do.
“There were areas today I wasn’t delighted with, so we need to make sure we focus on getting this team right. We’ll see what happens after that.
“He’s a fantastic striker, one of the world’s best. I think the way the team plays will help him as well. He loves scoring goals and you saw today we created a load of chances and he was the beneficiary of that.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Haaland has 'full trust' in Guardiola to halt Man City slump
Erling Haaland has "full trust" in the "best manager in the world", Pep Guardiola, to get Manchester City back on track against Tottenham in the Premier League on Saturday.
Guardiola's side have lost four matches in a row across all competitions, which is the Spaniard's longest losing run in his entire managerial career.
The Citizens last lost more consecutively between March and April 2006 under Stuart Pearce (six – the fifth game of which was also against Tottenham).
But after putting pen to paper on a new two-year contract extension at the club earlier this week, Guardiola has his eyes firmly set on returning to winning ways on home soil.
And Haaland, who has scored 105 goals in 114 appearances under Guardiola at City, believes they can make up the gap to leaders Liverpool, who are five points ahead.
"When you look at what he's been doing for the club, he's not bad, is he? So he's got my full trust," Haaland told Sky Sports.
"And if he tells me something, I'd better do it because he knows the best in the end. Everyone knows that. So I'm sure he will find solutions now as well. I'm sure of that.
"[Guardiola] demands us to be at our best in every training session, in every game. And that's what we need to do. It hasn't been good enough, losing four games now, but let's try to win the next."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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