Bayern Munich Acquires Harry Kane; Tottenham Moves On

Harry Kane didn’t take long to make his Bayern Munich debut after completing a €100 million transfer to the German giants last week. But the England striker’s wait for a first piece of silverware continues. Bayern Munich were beaten, battered, and bruised by DFB Pokal winners RB Leipzig, 3-0, in the German Super Cup.

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Dani Olmo, a player seemingly ignored by major clubs around Europe during the offseason, stole the show, scoring three times. It was supposed to be Kane’s big debut. A chance to finally win a major piece of silverware. Yet, Kane remained the bridesmaid, picking up the fourth runners-up medal of his career and playing the final 26 minutes of the fixture.

Kane will be the Bundesliga’s highest-paid player in 2023-24, and the former Tottenham man will earn €25m (€480,769 per week). Unsurprisingly, Bayern Munich have the Bundesliga’s top 11 highest-paid players in German football.

Harry Kane to FC Bayern, here we go! Deal completed between all parties as Kane has given final green light 🚨🔴

Tottenham to receive €100m fixed fee plus add-ons up to €20m package.

Kane will sign a four year deal, he’ll fly to Germany today.

Medical booked. Done deal. pic.twitter.com/iervbXzkwt

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 11, 2023

Bayern needed a true goalscoring No 9 following the departure of Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona last summer. The Sadio Mane experiment didn’t work out despite a strong start. Serge Gnabry led Bayern Munich in scoring last season, with 14 Bundesliga goals. Only three Bayern players finished the campaign in double-digit scoring in the Bundesliga (Gnabry, Jamal Musiala, and Eric Choupo-Mouting).

The trio combined for 36 goals between them. Kane bagged 30 Premier League goals on his own. The question is, how many goals will Kane score in the Bundesliga this season?

The Englishman’s consistency is one of the reasons Bayern spent so heavily on a player that turned 30 in July. Since 2014-15, Kane has scored 17 goals or more in nine straight league campaigns. Kane matched his single-season league-high last term with Spurs, tallying 30 goals. Had it not been for Erling Haaland, the world would have been talking about Kane’s goalscoring exploits rather than the Norwegian’s goal-pillaging.

Kane provides a major upgrade to the Bayern Munich attack, although Thomas Tuchel’s tactics may lend to a more defensive style of football at the Allianz Arena. Despite the lack of goals from individual players, Bayern Munich still scored 92 times in the Bundesliga in 2022-23. It did take the Bavarians until the final minutes on the last day of the campaign to win the title, but they got there in the end.

Kane’s presence in attack will give Bayern Munich the focal point they missed a season ago. Former coach Julian Nagelsmann wasn’t enamoured with Lewandowski’s “static” play in the final third, and it helped usher the Polish attacker out the door. Mane scored six of his seven Bayern Munich Bundesliga goals before the start of November, as the team lost just once in their opening 14 matches.

An injury in November prevented Mane from playing in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Mane never found form again and was suspended in April after hitting teammate Leroy Sane. The former Liverpool man only played 238 minutes in the Bundesliga following his return and was left on the bench in Bayern Munich’s final game of the campaign.

If Bayern Munich sought a “club player” then Kane is their man. Kane rarely rocked the boat at Tottenham Hotspur. Although he angled for a transfer to Manchester City in 2021, Kane was welcomed back with open arms once he had repented for his sins of wanting to leave north London.

Kane scored 280 goals in 435 career matches for Tottenham in all competitions. He led them to three cup finals, including the 2019 Champions League final, where Spurs were defeated 2-0 by Liverpool.

Harry Kane ✖️ Tottenham fans ⚪️✨pic.twitter.com/0gNmdv9871

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 12, 2023

With Kane turning 30 in July and going into the final year of his contract, it was the ideal time for both the striker and Tottenham to part ways. There comes a time when a club legend becomes too big. Everything becomes about the club legend winning silverware rather than the team. Liverpool experienced a similar issue with Steven Gerrard. Every season became, “Will Stevie G win the Premier League this time?” Spurs experienced the same problems.

Building around club legends can be an impossible task. The club must sign players to fit the needs of its star player to make the team better. It often prevents the team from improving, as players are shoehorned into fitting the needs of others instead of the collective.

Tottenham are going to face some difficulties this season without Kane. Sunday’s 2-2 come-from-behind draw was evidence of the problems Spurs will have. However, Spurs’ main problem at Brentford wasn’t in attack, it was once again in defence. Tottenham conceded 63 goals in 2022-23 while scoring 70 times. Even with Kane in the team, Spurs continually dropped points due to lacklustre defending.

Tottenham allowed the fifth-most goals in the Premier League last term. Based on the defence’s performance against Brentford, Spurs could concede goals left and right throughout the new season. But goalscoring may not be as big of a problem as previously believed when Kane left.

It was time for Tottenham Hotspur to move on from Kane. The two parties had gone as far as possible. Now, Kane can win the Bundesliga title, which feels like a lock going into the season despite losing the German Super Cup to RB Leipzig.

There is no guarantee that Kane will see out his four-year contract at Bayern Munich. He wouldn’t be the first English player to go abroad and find life difficult. The move came together so quickly that Kane may one day look back on it as a bad decision.

According to The Athletic, before deciding to leave for Germany, Kane was leaning toward staying at Spurs, because he liked life under new coach Ange Postecoglou. Mane didn’t work out for Bayern last season. There may be some trepidation that Kane could struggle to adapt to life, too. Adapting to Bayern Munich on the pitch shouldn’t be a problem, but it is the lifestyle in Bavaria rather than London that could cause unrest for the player and his family.

Kane will get his first taste of Bundesliga football on Friday night against Werder Bremen. Bremen just saw off relegation last season, obtaining 36 points from 34 games. The champions will start the campaign on the road in Bremen before returning to the Allianz to face FC Augsburg.

Round No 3 will see Bayern Munich face some stiffer competition. Until then, Kane could get off the mark and set the pace for goalscoring in the Bundesliga.