If Erik ten Hag’s side had not closed the door, Harry Kane would have delayed joining Manchester United until the following summer, even after Bayern Munich sealed a £100m deal.

Harry Kane would have waited until next summer to sign for Manchester United if the deal was guaranteed to go ahead, Mail Sport can reveal.

Kane will make his Champions League debut for Bayern Munich against United at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night after joining from Tottenham for £100million.

The 30-year-old had set his heart on a move to Old Trafford and would even have seen out the final 12 months of his contract at Spurs, but he wasn’t sure if United could keep the door open for him.

Kane was manager Erik ten Hag’s top target but United couldn’t afford him and faced a battle to convince Spurs chief Daniel Levy to let the striker join a Premier League rival.

As soon as United switched their sights to a younger and cheaper option in Rasmus Hojlund, Kane sealed his move to Bayern.

Harry Kane would have waited to seal a move to Man United if they had kept the door open for him 

Ten Hag had sized up Kane on his wishlist but the Red Devils could not afford the striker

Ahead of the game, Kane said: ‘Over the summer I know there were some talks between a few clubs in the background, but Bayern was a team I was really interested by so there weren’t many other discussions.

‘My focus is on here, obviously Manchester United are a great club, a really big club as well, but I decided to come here and I’m really happy I have.’

Ten Hag faced the inevitable questions about Kane when he addressed the media at the Allianz Arena last night and insisted that he has no regrets about not signing him.

‘No. I think we’ve discussed it,’ said the Dutchman. ‘We are happy with Rasmus. In the first game, he was injured. He played against Arsenal, he’s had a start (against Brighton), and now we have to integrate him in the team. You can see he’s a big talent.’

Bayern Munich stole a march by sealing a £100m deal for him and he has made a flying start 

Ten Hag arrived in Bavaria without 12 first-team players after Harry Maguire joined a growing casualty list as United touched down with a 21-man squad containing four goalkeepers. After losing three of his opening five Premier League games, Ten Hag admitted that his team need to show a marked improvement.

Bayern have won their opening Champions League group game for the last 19 years by an aggregate score of 47-2.

In fact, the last team to avoid defeat at the Allianz Arena in any group game was Ten Hag’s Ajax in 2018. ‘Bayern have so much individual class that you cannot be unfocused for a split second,’ said Ten Hag. ‘In parts of games we play below our levels. We have to step up.’