The age-defying England captain is in the form of his life, and can achieve all his remaining career dreams in Germany
"He is one of the greatest goal scorers the game has ever seen," former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said on after watching Harry Kane score a brace in Bayern Munich's 3-1 Champions League win over Chelsea. "I think he is England's greatest ever goal scorer. He's done it in the Premier League with a team that aren't one of the top teams. He's gone abroad now with Bayern Munich. All eyes are on him and there's huge pressure.
"You think of strikers England have had in the past and there have been some great ones, but he's scored more goals for England than Alan Shearer. If he'd have stayed in the Premier League, he'd have got that record too. His numbers are off the scale. He can come deep, he can get on the ball and he can play people in. He's the best striker England have ever had."
It's impossible to argue with Carragher's assessment. Kane is, after all, the record scorer for both England and Tottenham, and a man who has won a grand total of Golden Boots across Premier League, Bundesliga, World Cup and European Championship competition. As if all that wasn't enough, he also has a European Golden Shoe on his resume.
A lack of team silverware was the only stick critics had left to beat Kane with, but after firing Bayern to Bundesliga and DFL-Supercup success this year, his greatness is not up for debate anymore. There is only the question of how high he will rank in football's Hall of Fame when he eventually hangs up his boots.
Now, reports are swirling that Kane will aim to enhance his legacy by returning to England next summer and breaking Shearer's Premier League goals record, with only 48 strikes needed for him to reach the magic mark. But that would pale in comparison to what he could still achieve at Bayern. Footballing immortality is within Kane's grasp, and he would be mad to trade in that opportunity for a romantic homecoming that ultimately promises nothing but mediocrity.
GettySpurs return makes no sense
Speculation over Kane's future has been raging since German outlet dropped the bombshell that the frontman has a £57m ($77m) release clause in his contract with Bayern that can be activated if he expresses a desire to leave by the end of the winter transfer window. Tottenham reportedly have a first refusal proviso on the 32-year-old, which means if Bayern accept a bid or his release clause is triggered, then the club have the option to match it.
Current Spurs boss Thomas Frank has stirred the pot publicly, telling reporters: "There's a lot of Tottenham fans – including myself – who would like to see Kane back. He's a top player. If he wants to join us, he's more than welcome." It has been suggested that Kane has unfinished business in north London, and that any trophy win at Spurs would mean more than further domestic triumphs at Bayern.
There may even have been a part of Kane that felt envious watching his old club lift the Europa League in May, just two years on from his departure. But when rational thinking takes over, that success can be viewed for what it really was: an anomaly.
Tottenham benefitted from a favourable draw, with Roma the only side in the near elite bracket that they conquered en route to the final, before overcoming a dismal Manchester United team by sitting deep and looking to counter. It ended their 17-year trophy drought, but wasn't enough to paper over the cracks of a shocking 17th-place finish in the Premier League, and Ange Postecoglou was rightly relieved of his managerial duties in the aftermath of the celebrations in Bilbao.
Former Brentford boss Frank is a better coach than Postecoglou, and Spurs made a few decent summer signings, but they're still a long way off challenging for the biggest prizes year in, year out, as their inconsistent start to the new season shows. Surpassing Shearer would be the only realistic aim for Kane if he retraced his steps. It makes no sense for him to go back to being a nearly man after tasting the sweet nectar of football at the very highest level.
AdvertisementGettyNothing but misery at Man Utd
According to , Kane's most likely next destination if he leaves Bayern is Old Trafford rather than the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. United decided to move for Rasmus Hojlund over Kane in 2023, prioritising youthful potential over proven pedigree, which came back to haunt them spectacularly.
Despite their decline in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, United are still the biggest club in the world, aside perhaps from Real Madrid, and can thus still attract top talent. Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko could all have joined more stable teams in the summer window, but they had tunnel vision once the Red Devils came calling.
It would not be a surprise if Kane also succumbed to temptation. That being said, if his advisors are worth their salt, they will have already convinced him that a new chapter in Manchester has the potential to be a career ender. United are rotten, and Old Trafford has become a graveyard for world-class performers over the last 13 years.
As deadly and technically brilliant as Kane is, he would not be able to drag the current team up from the bottom half of the Premier League back to past glories. He might well do better than the likes of Angel Di Maria, Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez, but no one player can fix United's malaise.
Does he really want to be shouted at every game by Bruno Fernandes for misplacing the odd pass? Or to be forced into deeper areas out of sheer panic because he can see opposing teams cutting through the midfield at will? Or to make countless intelligent runs in behind that are wasted because so few of his team-mates have the vision or ability to find him? There is nothing on offer but misery at United.
It could be a long time before that changes, too, because the INEOS leadership group has yet to come up with a cohesive plan for improvement. Kane is too good for United, plain and simple.
Getty Images Sport'Next steps'
Kane was quizzed about Shearer's Premier League record after scoring another two goals in Bayern's 4-0 thumping of Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga last Friday, and replied: "When I left England, I thought maybe I'd come back to achieve that. But since I've been here, I've really enjoyed playing at this level."
He also opened the door to extending his contract at Allianz Arena, with his current deal due to expire in 2027. "I think they are happy with me, and I’m happy with them," Kane said. "My family has settled down. My kids are loving it here in school, so yes, this is my life here for the foreseeable future."
Those words would have been music to the ears of the Bayern board, who have since come out to confirm that renewal talks are imminent. "Harry is a leading player for us, he wanted to come to Bayern because he really likes to play here and win trophies. He wants to continue for a long time so we're going to talk about the next steps," Bayern sporting director Max Eberl said this week. "The mixture in the squad is important. If you have that mix then you can keep older players with high quality for longer in your squad and Harry seems not to be old at all. He has that quality on the pitch."
Unless something goes very wrong over the next seven months, Kane will still be a Bayern player next season, and potentially for many more years to come. As Eberl alluded to, he seems to be getting better with age, and for the first time in his career, is playing for a team that can match his ambition. It's a happy marriage that has legs.
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(C)Getty ImagesHitting Messi & Ronaldo levels
"I'm not afraid to say, 'I want to be the best'. I want to try and get on the level [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi got to," Kane said on back in 2021. "That's my ultimate goal – to be winning trophies season in, season out, scoring 50, 60, 70 goals season in, season out. The pressure from myself is always bigger than anything anyone else can put on me."
Kane is now well on his way to fulfilling that aim at Bayern. Indeed, he has become the quickest player to ever reach 100 goals playing for a club in one of Europe's top five leagues, hitting the mark in just 104 games, one less than Ronaldo and Erling Haaland managed at Real Madrid and Manchester City, respectively. He has also scored a staggering 17 goals in his first nine appearances this season.
Haaland is the only man who has ever matched Kane's prolific start to a campaign, but he did so in the far less prestigious surroundings of Red Bull Salzburg in 2019-20. Ronaldo scored 13 times for Real in his first nine outings of the 2014-15 season, while Messi's best haul for Barca was 12 in both 2011-12 and 2017-18. What Kane is doing is unprecedented.
Bayern's talismanic centre-forward is also second in the Champions League scoring charts on four goals, just one behind Real Madrid's Kylian Mbappe, with his latest double coming in a 5-1 thrashing of Cypriot outfit Pafos. That was Kane's 21st appearance on Europe's biggest stage and his 26th goal, equalling his total for Tottenham in the competition in 11 fewer games.