Newcastle United cannot be discounted in the potential race to sign Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane ahead of the summer window.
How much would Harry Kane cost?
Eddie Howe's side face a big clash on the weekend against the England captain and his north London side with the Lilywhites attempting to close the gap on the top four.
And the future of the 29-year-old remains up for debate ahead of the summer transfer window with a number of clubs believed to be showing an interest.
Spurs are also still keen to tie their all-time record goalscorer down to a new deal with the upcoming summer marking the final year on his current deal.
However, the issues in north London could potentially see the striker seek a move as he did back in 2021 when Manchester City came calling.
With Manchester United believed to be interested in the striker, insider Graeme Bailey has mooted the Toon as a potential landing spot in the summer.
Indeed, speaking on the Talking Transfers podcast, Bailey noted the owners' long-standing interest in potentially making a huge statement with the possible signing of England's captain:
(31:45) "This is the one player, guys, if you remember going back 18 months to when Eddie Howe was appointed, Harry Kane was the one who Newcastle always highlighted as being their marquee number nine signing.
"He hasn't been linked again but I wouldn't rule [them out]. You see Newcastle starting to have little conversations – we're going to talk about another player coming up – I wouldn't discount them making a little sneaky offer for Harry Kane. I wouldn't discount them"
Would Kane be a good fit for Newcastle?
The £200k-per-week Spurs striker is perhaps the only reason the north London side are going into this weekend's clash on Tyneside with even a glimmer of hope of playing Champions League football next season.
Only Erling Haaland has outscored Kane this season with the 29-year-old having provided an impressive return of 23 goals in the league and has more than doubled the tally of the next-highest scorer at Spurs.
Journalist Alasdair Gold has hailed Kane as a "machine" in the past and that is certainly the case as he chases down Alan Shearer's all-time Premier League goals record.
However, would he fit the current set-up at Newcastle?
Alexander Isak has begun to establish himself as the main man in Howe's attack having netted eight Premier League goals in just 906 minutes (via Transfermarkt).
In that sense, a potential arrival for Kane could cause a huge disruption in Howe's squad with their current record signing likely to be shifted out wide where he has played sporadically in the past.
Goals aside, Kane has provided Tottenham with a real creative outlet over recent years and that can be seen through his return of 3.57 shot-creating actions per 90 minutes – significantly higher than Isak's 2.13 (via FBref).
But with the north London side expected to be looking for in excess of £100m for Kane, could this be money spent better elsewhere when they seemingly already have a promising long-term option up top?
