Former Chelsea and Scotland player Pat Nevin believes Harry Kane would have guaranteed Manchester City the Premier League title.
Pat Nevin joined Joe Molloy on The Football Show on Monday night to discuss Manchester City and Liverpool's draw from the weekend.
The brilliance of Mohamed Salah caught Nevin's eye, but it was Pep Guardiola's decision to play without a striker that stood out most of all. Nevin believes that Guardiola is searching for another way to win games after failing to land Harry Kane.
“They tried to get Kane, there's a reason for it,” he said.
“They absolutely desperately wanted to get him but they couldn't get him. So you can talk around it if you like...but he's trying to find another way. He's done it before. He's played with three wee guys upfront and it worked, it's absolutely fine he can do it. It's just that much harder."
Kane is struggling this season for Tottenham and he's playing in a deeper position than seasons past. But had he moved to City in the summer, he wouldn't have played deep. Jack Grealish and Phil Foden would have played behind him, or alongside him, while he acted as the team's spearhead.
Guardiola has generally had spearheads in his teams over the years.
Sergio Aguero barely played last year but was the spearhead in Manchester City for a decade. Robert Lewandowski was the focal point for two years in Bayern Munich and his Barcelona teams featured Samuel Eto'o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Villa.
The likes of Grealish and Gabriel Jesus have to create in very difficult situations because of how City are currently constructed.
“You tend to find they score some absolute crackers because they have to. They're not getting that striker getting the nod-ins, tap-ins quite the same way...because they haven't got the classic center forward.”
City can still win the league without Kane, according to Nevin. But without him there is a chance for their rivals. Six teams (including Brighton) are within one win of the top of the table.
Had City signed Kane, none of those teams would be in contention.
“They're not top just now, they're a point behind. There's a brilliant fight on between them, Chelsea, Liverpool and one or two others you never know and I honestly still feel the same, had they had Harry Kane, I don't think there would be a fight.
“I think they would be so far ahead if he'd have stayed fit and fitted in well with that system. He'd have had so many chances, it would have been a walk in the park for them.
“Thank goodness for the rest of us it didn't happen.”
Jurgen Klopp is on par with Bill Shankly as the voice of Liverpool.
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