'Hang on a minute' - Harry Kane cited as ex-Tottenham scout shares Daniel Levy transfer claim

Daniel Levy ran Tottenham Hotspur always with the club's best interests in mind during his 24-year tenure as executive chairman.

That is the opinion of former senior Tottenham scout, Bryan King, speaking exclusively to Football Insider.

The businessman stepped down in September last year but was understood to have been forced into the decision by the club's ownership.

Levy has since reportedly sold a 24.99 per cent stake in Tottenham, with the move coming before an extraordinary push in the summer transfer window.

Jan Paul van Hecke, Sandro Tonali, Mateus Fernandes, Marcos Senesi, Andy Robertson and Martin Dubravka have already arrived, with the expenditure already far exceeding £200million.

Such spending was rarely seen under Levy, with the former chairman now accused by some of having limited Tottenham's potential success.

Bryan King defends Daniel Levy

Tottenham's previous record outlay across one season, including the winter transfer window, was £235.8m in the 2023-24 season.

In just a few weeks of next season's summer window, the Lilywhites have already spent £237m.

The arrivals of Tonali and Fernandes have broken their club transfer records, and there is expected to be far more to come.

Tottenham needed to spend big money. They came perilously close to relegation from the Premier League and finished 17th for the second consecutive campaign.

But last summer posed a similar situation, and Levy's team spent £171m and missed out on several of their top targets.

He is not all to blame, according to some, however. "Richarlison, [Dominic] Solanke, [Mathys] Tel. That's £165m. It was Levy who was instrumental in that," King told Football Insider.

"The thing with Daniel Levy was he ran that football club as though it was his own although he was just a managing director. As we all know, Mr [Joe] Lewis is the owner of the club.

"Levy ran that club as he felt was right. Of course, everybody's always said that he's always been very tight with the money. But hang on a minute, he allowed Harry Kane to go and he got £100m for him.

"This is a 30-year-old man. The biggest problem there was when Son [Heung-Min] and Harry went, they've never been replaced. That has cost them dearly."

Where will Tottenham's spending end?

Tottenham's incredible rate of spending this summer is not doing anything to help Levy's reputation.

And it is not anywhere close to being done just yet. New attackers are eyed in the coming weeks, with Roberto De Zerbi keen to refresh every part of his squad.

According to BBC Sport, Tottenham could spend up to £480m a year on their squad as per squad-cost ratio rules, due to their high revenue.

It remains to be seen how far it will be taken this summer, but the question of whether this would have happened under Levy will persist.