As we enter the final weeks of the summer transfer window, there is an increasing sense that both Harry Kane and Manchester City have made a bit of a miscalculation in their summer dealings.
The deal to bring the England captain to The Etihad seems no closer to completion, with Kane back training with Spurs and Daniel Levy seemingly unwilling to play ball when it comes to negotiating a fee.
It all begs the question, how have they gotten it so wrong?
Everyone knew extracting Kane from North London would be an arduous task, one that would require plenty of groundwork to be done early in the window. Instead, a deal seems no closer to completion with only a couple of weeks to go in the window.
To make matters worse, you would have thought that bringing Kane in should have been a much higher priority for City than the signing of Jack Grealish. Whereas their squad is stacked with attacking midfielders, they find themselves much shorter in the striker department.
Jamie Carragher believe this was a big mistake.
Writing in his column for The Telegraph, the Sky Sports pundit said he can't understand why City moved for Grealish before a deal for Kane was already sewn up.
When City lost the Champions League final to Chelsea, there was a broad consensus on what they needed to sign before the new season – a striker to replace Sergio Agüero and a recognised, consistent left-back.
Nobody watching Guardiola’s side regain the Premier League title and go close to the European Cup was analysing their performances and saying City needed another attacking midfielder...
What I cannot get my head around is why City did not attend to their more pressing needs first. City already have so many attacking midfielders of Grealish's profile, Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogen, Kevin De Bruyne and, if he stays, Bernardo Silva.
Signing Grealish will not be the difference between City defending their title or finally winning the Champions League this season. Signing Kane, or a world-class striker capable of scoring between 20 or 30 goals this season, might be. That was clear in last weekend’s defeat to Spurs.
Despite that, the Premier League champions pushed ahead with the Grealish deal while waiting for events to materialise on Kane’s future. That will backfire if they do not act in the next fortnight, to either secure Kane or a worthy alternative...
It is inconceivable City will not add at least one new striker to their squad. It will not be a good look, nor a reflection of good planning, to see the best team in the world, with the best coach in the world, with a seemingly unlimited budget, scrambling around hunting for a striker in the final two weeks of the transfer window.
A failure to bring in a quality striker would certainly seem like a mistake, with Pep Guardiola's side looking noticeably toothless in attack during last weekend's loss to Spurs.
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