Harry Kane expressed desire to leave Tottenham in first discussion with Ange Postecoglou

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou revealed Harry Kane had already made up his mind to leave the club before their first meeting.

Kane will travel to Germany to complete an initial £84.5m switch to Bayern Munich in the coming hours after the two club’s agreed a deal on Thursday.

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The England skipper will embark on a new adventure after 14 years at Tottenham where he became the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.

But frustration over the club’s direction and failure to challenge for honours meant Kane was reluctant to extend his contract and with just 11 months remaining on his deal, Spurs have cashed in on their prized asset.

Postecoglou takes charge of his first Premier League game as Tottenham boss this weekend and although he will not have Kane at his disposal, the Australian was already prepared for the worst following the pair’s first meeting.

“[Harry and I] had a chat on the first day. He was up front and honest that if they could agree a deal then he would go. He wanted it decided by the first game and that was my preference as well,” Postecoglou told his press conference on Friday.

“I didn’t see the point in [pitching myself] because whatever I was going to say was going to be irrelevant. I could plan this grand vision but I’m sure he’d heard it all before. My feeling was we’ll get to know each other, that’s the best way to navigate this early bit.

“Having said that, in my mind after that initial conversation [on the first day], he’d made up his mind that if the clubs agreed he’d go but he was also happy to stay if they didn’t.”

Bayern head coach Thomas Tuchel told reporters on Friday morning there is currently no agreement in place for Kane and wouldn’t comment any further on the deal.

He added: “We are working on it intensely, that much I can confirm. As of right now, no agreement has been reached, and when no agreement has been reached, then a coach will not comment on it, because it is not his player.”

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However, Postecoglou seems resigned to losing the talismanic striker and took time to pay tribute to Kane’s accomplishments at the north London club.

“I don’t have a blow by blow account of the whole thing but fair to say it’s progressed to the point where it looks like it’s going to happen,” the Spurs boss added. “It gives us clarity and unless something unforeseen happens we’ll move on.

“It’s best Harry speaks for himself on the decision but there’s no doubt he’s one of the greats of this football club. His record speaks for himself. I’m only new in the building but I’m certainly not the spokesman for this football club in declaring people’s status but I think it’s clear Harry Kane is one of the greats.

He continued: “I don’t think there’s a like for like replacement for Harry. We’ve been planning for this for a while to be fair. It doesn’t take too much investigative work to know that this was going to happen. Our business up to now reflects that.

“I don’t think it works that way [giving Daniel Levy a list of strikers to get]. It’s not like the family shopping list to go and get milk and bread for the kids. My whole strategy has been that Harry was unlikely to be around so it wasn’t like we had a pow wow this morning.”

[Harry and I] had a chat on the first day. He was up front and honest that if they could agree a deal then he would go. He wanted it decided by the first game and that was my preference as well.

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