Sagnol added that he found it difficult to accept Zidane's apology and also joked that he smoked 250 cigarettes in ten minutes immediately after the defeat to Italy. He said: 'I did not want to accept his apologies, or talk to him. Now was not the moment. I had to go to the bathroom, smoke 250 cigarettes in ten minutes. This is how I escaped. While many of his French team-mates won the World Cup in 1998, Sagnol wasn't part of that group and ended his career without having won the most prestigious prize in football. However, Sagnol revealed that he and Zidane eventually managed to make up. He said: 'We did not speak for almost two years. In 2008, after the European Championship, I had to get married. My wife told me to invite him. 'I called him but he couldn't come to the party at night, but it made me happy to see him arrive for the morning. We had an aperitif together.'

                                                                                                 Daniel Levy will sanction the departure of Harry Kane to Manchester United for a world-record fee of £200million because of financial worries and exasperation with England's captain for going off-message during the coronavirus crisis.

Levy has made it clear that Spurs would agree to let Kane leave this summer.

Tottenham fear the financial repercussions of the current lockdown more than any other Premier League club because they are still paying for their new £1billion stadium.It's significant that Spurs were among the first top-flight clubs to furlough non-playing staff despite the negative publicity it attracted.

They reportedly owe £637m on the stadium loan and £83m on transfer fees. And Levy is understood to have been furious at Kane's recent comments that the Premier League season should be voided if it wasn't completed by the end of June.

That would have huge repercussions should television broadcast rights holders demand a refund from the Premier League although The Mail On Sunday understands that Sky will not demand that the League repay the £371m they are owed.

Kane, who has been out since January with a hamstring injury, also suggested that it might be time to leave Spurs if they aren't going to be winning trophies.Former Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov, who made the move to Old Trafford in 2008, said: 'I see a lot of similarities in the situation I went through and what is happening with Kane at the minute.'

Though Levy has been criticised in the past for not spending transfer money, Tottenham have splashed out more than £100m in the past 12 months on Tanguy Ndombele, Steven Bergwijn and Ryan Sessegnon.

It has left manager Joe Mourinho with a bloated squad and selling Kane is now gaining favour with the Spurs chairman as he plots the club's post-coronavirus future.

The £200m asking price would beat the world record £198m that PSG paid Barcelona for Neymar in 2017.

The mooted amount would be optimistic in the current climate, though. But even if Spurs do not fetch their full asking price, Kane is sure to smash the British transfer record of £89m paid by United for Paul Pogba.