Insider Notes: Real Madrid Eyes Kane, Pochettino in Massive Rebuild; Lagerwey for USMNT GM?
Tottenham got the best of Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage, winning and drawing their two matchups en route to finishing first in their group, but Real Madrid could be coming for a bit of revenge this summer.
Harry Kane is just 24 and having another terrific scoring season for Tottenham, currently leading the Premier League with 23 goals and leading many to wonder if he might be heading to Real Madrid this summer. A high-ranking source at Real Madrid says the club could spend up to €600 million this summer to overhaul the team, and Kane will be a top target of the Spanish giants. But Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is a notoriously hard negotiator who may demand a world-record transfer fee upwards of €300 million, the source cautioned.
For Kane, who has won back-to-back golden boots in the Premier League, his profile and value could grow even more this summer, as he leads England at the World Cup in Russia.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid is also considering Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino as a potential replacement for Zinédine Zidane this summer. The club likes what Pochettino has done, even if he hasn’t won a Premier League title and remains under contract through 2021. The Real Madrid source says that barring a complete fiasco against PSG, the club doesn’t want to fire Zidane, and they think he will likely choose on his own to walk away from Madrid this summer.
If Real Madrid is able to secure either or both of Kane and Pochettino it would add to its history of poaching from Tottenham, which most notably includes signing Gareth Bale and Luka Modric from Spurs.
Elsewhere in the world of soccer:
Sounders' Lagerwey considered for USMNT GM role
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Carlos Cordeiro is the new president of U.S. Soccer, and the first big decision of the Cordeiro Era will be of a newly created general manager position for the men’s side. The new GM will oversee technical decisions, including being a central figure in the pursuit of a new men’s national team coach, and the GM will report to CEO Dan Flynn, not to Cordeiro.
I’m told that one figure who is being considered for the GM position is Seattle Sounders GM Garth Lagerwey, who has gotten the nickname “The Theo Epstein of American Soccer” after leading Real Salt Lake and Seattle to MLS Cup titles.
Cordeiro will visit U.S. Soccer headquarters in Chicago on Wednesday and dig into the GM options with Flynn.
