The winner - and still in possession of the best striker in the world - is Daniel Levy.
The Spurs chairman probably has as his ringtone the legendary cry from boxing MC Michael Buffer: ‘Let’s get ready to rumble!’ Particularly for any given transfer window within which the biggest clubs come knocking for his prize assets.
At no stage this summer did it look as though Levy would lose Harry Kane - at least not for the ridiculous amounts being talked about.
Despite the player’s podcasts and the press conferences during which Pep Guardiola would tantalizingly admit to his admiration for Tottenham’s England captain, Manchester City blinked first rather than stump up the cash that would have given Levy something to think about.
He isn’t quite Rod (“Show me the money!”) Tidwell from Jerry Maguire but, as everyone knows, this is far from Levy’s first transfer rodeo.
This latest triumph will only enhance his reputation as one of the toughest negotiators in the game.
The irony in this case is that Levy, 59, didn’t even have to negotiate. In fact, fighting on two fronts, his was a masterclass in PR to get the fans on side.
He simply kept quiet, safe in the knowledge that he had a goal machine who’d committed himself to a six-year deal which still had three years left to run. It is down the road at rivals Arsenal that they allow their biggest assets to run down their contracts and leave for free.
Even his fiercest critics should be praising Levy for the foresight which left him and Spurs in the box seat. He was quite right not to even pick up the phone to an offer of around £125million. It doesn’t come close to what three-time Premier League Golden Boot-winning Kane is worth.
And the truth is, City preferred to invest their cash in Jack Grealish rather than heap it all into a big pile and push it across the table to Spurs once Sergio Aguero had gone. So, Levy wins again.
In fact, the winners are all in north London. Nuno is a winner having originally planned for the coming season on the basis that he’d be losing his star man.
The team are the big winners as they have already seen off City and Wolves without conceding, showing a mentality that suggested they could move on without him. Kane will only make them stronger.
The fans too are the big winners as they had also resigned themselves to losing yet another of their big players after Carrick, Berbatov, Modric and Bale.
Spurs haven’t even finished their summer spending yet with the club still looking at another striker and a winger, possibly Wolves’ Adama Traore.
For a side that looked a shambles at the start of the summer, they’ve ended it smelling of roses. Bear in mind they sacked Jose Mourinho in April, failed with a string of moves and third-party approaches for a replacement, then turned back to Nuno at the end of June.
The circus - with the squad still stale at that stage - appeared to vindicate Kane’s desperation to quit.
The rebuilding process, however, is ongoing. New £46.7m defender Cristian Romero was described yesterday as “an animal” by another new recruit, his ex-Atalanta team-mate and no.2 keeper Pierluigi Gollini.
Highly-rated playmaker Bryan Gil has also moved to north London with Erik Lamela going the other way. Dele Alli has returned a different player and has worked his way back into the first-team picture and with record signing Tanguy Ndombele wanting out, Spurs intend to replace him with Lyon attacking midfielder Houssem Aouar.
Should they land their targets the new and improved north Londoners could make themselves a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League this season. Kane now knows first-hand, they’d be following an example set by their chairman.
