COMMENT: A warning to those at Spurs Lodge: batten down the hatches, the Madridistas are coming...
If all the Harry Kane flyers over the summer about Manchester United and Chelsea were irritating, then those at Tottenham ain't seen nothing yet.
A call was received from one colleague last week. Tied to one of Madrid's big two - Marca and AS - he wanted the lowdown on Kane. Is he really a one club man? How heavy was the transfer speculation during the transfer window? Can you see him going abroad?
Y'see, the planning's already underway. October 17: Real Madrid v Tottenham at the Estadio Bernabeu. The chance for all Madridistas to make a serious assessment - up close - of 'this' English phenomenon. The build up will be unlike anything seen or experienced by Kane and his minders. It won't be Real versus Spurs. The storyline already being set is Real versus Harry Kane. Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, hinted as much just yesterday.
"We have [Manchester] United," declared Guardiola when discussing City's title rivals, "[and] the Harry Kane team who scores every game two or three goals."
In Spain, this is how they're describing Spurs. The anticipation is already building - both inside Real Madrid and outside in the press. After all, in Kane, Real have already invested serious money, bankrolling a permanent London scouting division just to follow the England international's progress. The plan was hatched and enacted two years ago - and still carries on today.
October 17 is his audition. Not make or break. But there are jobs and reputations on the line inside Real. Against Sergio Ramos, the Real captain, and on the Bernabeu pitch, there'll no greater platform for Kane's ability to be truly evaluated.
"I want to test myself against the best and Real Madrid have been the best in the last few years, without a doubt," says Kane. "They have one of the best defences with Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and players like that.
"I'm looking forward to it. I've never been to the Bernabeu, it's going to be exciting and I want to put in a performance like I have been recently."
Before Kane takes the field, the question will be asked. Florentino Perez, the Real president, won't play coy with his Spurs counterpart, Daniel Levy. At their traditional presidents' luncheon, before the big game, Florentino will look Levy in the eye and ask him to name his price. Oh, and Levy won't be caught unawares, because this meeting will be previewed in print and on air across every major media outlet in Spain. This is how Florentino does his business. And there is business to be done. That €130m left on the table at Monaco for Kylian Mbappe, now of PSG, is still burning a hole in his pocket. Both Florentino - and coach Zinedine Zidane - want a new No9 signed in 2018. And Kane is high on the agenda.
However, nothing is yet settled. Spurs know all about the regular Madrid presence at White Hart Lane - and now Wembley. But that's as far as Real's interest has reached thus far.
However, October 17. If he scores. If Kane treats Ramos as he has Premier League defenders over a record breaking September. Then all bets are off. Kane will be Florentino's 2018 Galactico.
And the Londoner, no matter club loyalties, will be tempted. The market, again, has shifted. Romelu Lukaku (Manchester United), Alvaro Morata (Chelsea) and Neymar (PSG). All of Kane's generation. And all have changed clubs this year. Leaving stable environments for bigger, better opportunities. In the past. In the very recent past. Such talent would be willing to wait another two, maybe even three years, before making their next big move. But not now. Not with super clubs now putting together super teams. Is 24 the new 27? In football terms, you better believe it.
But what about Kane's Spurs roots? His Tottenham mad family? Harry Redknapp, the former Spurs manager, insisted just last week that Kane would stay. "A proper Spurs boy", says Harry.
But Kane's path at Spurs was never anything smooth. He's had to fight for everything he now has. From Arsenal to Watford, he finally landed at Tottenham. But then spent his early senior career away on-loan, at four different clubs. And if Andre Villas-Boas had had his way, Kane would now be leading the line at Southampton.
£9m. Nine million quid! Levy was happy to sell Kane to Saints for in January 2013. Mauricio Pochettino, now of course in charge at Spurs, had spotted in Kane something both AVB and before him, Redknapp, had failed to see.
And if not for the friendship of Levy and Tim Sherwood - and the latter's intervention - Kane would've gone for that £9m.
"If Tim hadn't given me the chance, I might not be where I am now," Kane, thankfully, has now put on record. "It is about a manager having faith in you, giving me that trust on that big stage."
For his part, Sherwood says Kane needs to leave Spurs to fulfil his potential. And given his previous, Sherwood's opinion will carry weight. Kane is Spurs through and through. But if not for the intervention of one man, that commitment will have counted for nothing four years ago.
Loyalty's one thing. But so is peer pressure. And Kane now counts the likes of Lukaku, Neymar and Morata as peers. While they've moved, he's stayed. The question is: can Kane keep up with them as a proper Spurs man?
