Revealed: Harry Kane almost made shock Serie A transfer from Tottenham when he was just 20 - with bargain fee negotiated for future Bayern Munich and England star

According to a report from La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Football Italia), Bayern Munich striker Kane could have plied his trade in Serie A over a decade ago, when he was still contracted to his former side Tottenham. Per the report, Livorno, currently playing in Serie D, the fourth tier of Italian football, were close to finalising a deal for Kane in 2013, when they were still a part of the top-flight.

Livorno opened talks in an effort to secure the signing of 20-year-old Kane in the summer of 2013, even before he had made his mark in the Premier League with Spurs. The report suggests that the amount Livorno offered for the forward was approximately €500,000. At that point, Kane had just returned to Tottenham after a series of loan spells, first with Norwich and later with Leicester in the Championship, where he netted just two goals in 15 appearances.

In a recent interview with La Gazzetta, Armando Picchi, who was Livorno's sporting director back then, explained the club's interest in Kane and why the move never materialised.

“We sensed something at the time, he had excellent numbers,” Picchi said. “Kane was proposed by an agent. He had scored a couple of goals for Leicester in the Championship, the English Serie B. There was contact, President [Aldo] Spinelli gave it the okay, and we tried to set up the deal for a loan with an option to buy, I don’t remember the figure.

“Livorno had just achieved promotion to Serie A, [Davide] Nicola was in the dugout. We were looking for a young striker to revolve around Paulinho. We liked Kane immediately, but the negotiations faded away.”

In the 2013-14 season, which was Kane's first full season with Spurs, he scored just four goals in 19 games across all competitions. He had his breakthrough campaign for the London side the following season, where he scored 21 goals in the Premier League. By the time he left Spurs in 2023, he was the leading all-time goal scorer for the club with 280 goals in 435 games.

Having failed to inspire Bayern in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals against Inter last week, the 31-year-old will be hoping to fire his team to a comeback at the San Siro on Wednesday night. The Bavarians trail Inter 2-1.