Another potential landing spot for Harry Kane has seemingly closed, according to The Sun.
What's happened?
They claim that the argument between Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following Manchester United's win over Tottenham Hotspur this weekend has resulted in the Old Trafford giants refusing to part with huge money in order to try and sign the England captain this summer.
United are understood to be wary of dealing with Daniel Levy at the best of times and believe Mourinho's retort after Solskjaer complained of Heung-min Son's reaction to being fouled was merely an effort to take the spotlight off his side's struggles.
Is this much of a surprise?
While the idea of such a petty argument being enough to throw off what would be a high profile transfer chase would seem bizarre, the market in which clubs are dealing at the moment surely made any move unlikely anyway.
Spurs are believed to have put a £175m price tag on the 27-year-old and, in a post-pandemic market, it always seemed hugely unlikely that any suitor would pay that. As prolific as Kane has been, Erling Haaland is seven years his junior and reportedly available for around £156m and ESPN claimed United had even been put off that.
Why the trepidation?
In years gone by, it wouldn't have been hard to imagine one of Europe's genuinely elite moving for Kane.
Top of the goals and the assists charts in the Premier League this season, the likes of Eden Hazard, Antoine Griezmann, Gonzalo Higuain and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had all been purchased for huge money at similar ages in a pre-COVID environment.
Were football finances still in that kind of position, perhaps more offers for Kane would have come in and given him and Spurs something to think about, but that now looks increasingly unlikely.
With Mourinho's antics said to have put United off, he might actually have helped closed another avenue that Kane could have potentially explored. Indeed, given the pressure the Portuguese looks to be under at the moment, at least that may have helped.