OLIVER HOLT: Tottenham must stop the circus and cash in on Harry Kane for Ange Postecoglou's sake

The reporter from the German newspaper, Bild, who turned up at an Ange Postecoglou press conference in Bangkok last week, brandishing a Bayern Munich shirt bearing the name of Harry Kane, was a grandstanding clown whose antics had no place at an audience with the Spurs manager.

His performance, though, was a symbol of a regrettable reality for Tottenham fans: the circus is back in town. If the club does not act quickly and decisively, if the issue of Kane’s transfer is allowed to develop into another summer saga, there is a danger another Spurs season will be over before it has begun.

Because here’s another regrettable reality: the start of the new campaign is only a few weeks away and Postecoglou, a new manager trying to repair years of mismanagement, does not have any idea whether his best player will still be at the club when they open their Premier League campaign away at Brentford on Sunday August 13.

Kane is a jewel of a player. We are lucky to have him in our league. He is Spurs’ best centre forward. He’s also their best number 10. His passing, his vision, his crossing and his technique are so good you could make a case for him being the club’s best midfielder, too. He is germane to everything that Spurs do.

But things are beginning to point towards the exit door. He only has a year left on his contract, Spurs owner Joe Lewis is reported to have told chairman Daniel Levy he must not be allowed to leave for free next summer, Kane wants to win things and Bayern are said to be preparing a third bid.

This summer marks the best chance for Harry Kane to leave Tottenham in his bid for trophies

The reporter with a Bayern Munich shirt bearing the name of Kane was a symbol of a regrettable reality for Tottenham fans – that the circus was back in town

The worse-case scenario is that Daniel Levy (right) turns negotiations into a six-week ego trip and leaves Ange Postecoglou high and dry by the time the transfer window comes to a close

Postecoglou is trying to repair years of mismanagement yet he doesn’t have an idea whether his best player will still be at the club by the time the window shuts on September 1

The worst-case scenario, for all concerned, is that transfer negotiations drag on and on. The worst-case scenario is that Levy turns it into another six-week ego trip to prove he’s the toughest negotiator in football, agrees a deal on deadline day, September 1, and leaves Postecoglou high and dry.

If you’re Levy, you can pat yourself on the back about your brinksmanship all you want, but you don’t need to be a business guru to realise that if someone is presiding over a club that hasn’t won anything apart from the League Cup for more than 30 years, maybe he’s not quite as good as he thinks he is.

So, get the deal done. Get your £100m and let Kane go. It feels, finally, as if the time is right. Kane has given everything to Spurs for a long time. His brilliance has been a comfort for fans through all the lean years but there appears to be an acceptance now that he deserves the chance to win trophies at a club that can give him the platform to do it.

It will be painful letting him go. Of course it will. But if he is intent on leaving, it suits everyone that he leaves now. It is time for the club to start building something fresh. Spurs have a new manager. At least give him a chance to start the job without both hands tied behind his back. Don’t let another season play second fiddle to the god of the deal.

If Bayern can afford the fee, that might suit everybody, too. It is all but a guarantee of silverware. They have won the Bundesliga title for the last 11 years and they will provide England’s captain with another shot at winning the Champions League. It would end Kane’s pursuit of Alan Shearer’s Premier League scoring record but Kane appears to have decided that is a bargain he is prepared to make.

One question that puzzles me, though: where the hell are Manchester United in all this? Andre Onana looks like a good buy. Mason Mount, too. But United have had a modest summer so far. They have not strengthened as much as they needed to. Nowhere near as much.

The two big targets for any English club – apart from Manchester City perhaps – this summer were Declan Rice and Kane. So far, it looks as if United are not going to get anywhere near either of them.

It is another sign of the problems United still face under the dead hand of the Glazers, who have stymied the club again with the protracted sale of the club, a sale that may not be a sale after all, a sale that may be just another example of reviled owners using the club as a toy.

His exit would be painful for Spurs but the England captain deserves the chance towin trophies

The saga raises the question as to why Manchester United are not involved in the race, but it is another sign of the problems the club has faced under the ownership of the Glazer family

As things stand, with the players they have, United will not challenge for the title this season. The top four will be the summit of any realistic ambitions for Erik ten Hag and his team. If they had Kane, that would change. That would change everything. They would be right in the mix.

In former times, they would have broken the bank for Kane. He’s the best English player in this country. Go out and get him. Make a statement. United are supposed to be one of the biggest clubs in the world. They need to start acting like it again.

Perhaps they are feeling defeated by the idea of dealing with Levy. They shouldn’t be. The rest of football knows now that, if Kane does not sign a new deal, Spurs want to sell this summer. Levy’s position is much weaker than it was.

United should let Bayern establish the price for Kane and then wade in. And if they offer more money than the German champions, Levy should take it. Whether it’s Bayern or United or PSG, he should get the deal done quickly and give it to Postecoglou as a starting fund for a new era.

It is time to let a legend leave free of rancour and bitterness, free of recrimination and finger-pointing, and with the affection and the gratitude he deserves.

Why can’t big stars give the kids a chance?

Last season, the players of Arsenal and Leeds among others, received bursts of negative attention for treating fans with disdain either while leaving their hotel or when walking into the stadium.

I followed the Rory McIlroy-Max Homa pairing around Royal Liverpool on Saturday afternoon and saw much the same dynamic at play, from McIlroy in particular. McIlroy’s a good guy. That’s obvious. I’m aware, too, that he and his fellow players are in the middle of a match when they’re walking 18 holes.

They are concentrating hard and trying not to let anything invade their space. Equally, it is difficult not to feel a little sadness for what the game has become when you walk behind McIlroy hole after hole and see the crestfallen look on the faces of kids who call out his name as their hero passes by them, hoping for a smile or a look of acknowledgment, or something, anything, and instead are met with a blank stare.

Of course, I can only understand a little of the pressure these players are under but, really, how hard is it to make a kid’s day by looking at them when you walk past?

It was hard seeing crestfallen look on the faces of kids who call out the names of their heroes hoping for a smile or look of acknowledgement, only to be instead met with a blank stare

Francis had class on and off the pitch

I was 15 when Trevor Francis joined Manchester City from Nottingham Forest in September 1981. Even though he was already England’s first £1m footballer by then, even though he’d scored the winner in a European Cup Final, I didn’t realise how good he was until I saw him in the flesh at Maine Road, playing in front of the Kippax.

Francis was a Rolls Royce of a footballer who played like a god amongst mortals in that fading City side. I was lucky enough to get to know him a little when I became a journalist. He had even more class as a man than he had as a player. And that was a high bar.