For all the goals and individual accolades, Harry Kane has long been hit with criticism – that he had never won a trophy with club or country.
“There are many people who, throughout my career, only talk about the fact I haven’t won a title yet,” the England captain said recently, as Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga crown began to look more inevitable. “It would be nice to silence a few of them.”
Kane even saw the irony in the fact his 14-year wait for a senior trophy might end while he watched on from the stands as Bayern faced RB Leipzig on Saturday, having been handed a one-game suspension following his fifth yellow card of the season last week.
“It’s kind of my story that I’ll miss the Leipzig game,” said the 31-year-old. “But no worries, I’ll celebrate more than anyone else.”
Kane even made his way to the touchline ready to join the party until a stoppage-time Leipzig leveller meant the wait was delayed by a day when second-placed Bayer Leverkusen drew 2-2 at Freiburg on Sunday.
That saw Vincent Kompany’s side secure the German title, and means Kane has finally put to rest the notion that a glittering individual career may finish without any silverware.
The striker had been following the Leverkusen game with fellow England international Eric Dier and the rest of their Bayern team-mates, and posted a video on social media of them singing “we are the champions” after the title was confirmed.
“I’m thrilled for him because he deserves it so much,” former Bayern Munich and Tottenham Hotspur striker Jurgen Klinsmann told BBC Sport.
“He has proven it throughout the last 10 years. His numbers are absolutely insane and he will do that for another couple of years because he’s in top shape still, he’s fit, he’s hungry.
“I’m really happy for him. I just love to watch him.”
Kane’s career has not followed the trajectory one might expect for England’s all-time record goalscorer. As an under-14s player at Tottenham, according to former youth coach Alex Inglethorpe, he “wasn’t even on the podium” when it came to the age-group’s top talents.
He was still a youth player the last time Spurs won a trophy, the League Cup in 2008, but earned his breakthrough with the first-team squad and signed his first professional deal in July 2010. Then there were hard-grafting loan spells with Leyton Orient in League One and in the Championship with Millwall and Leicester, as well as with Norwich in the Premier League.
Once Kane established himself at White Hart Lane, he blossomed into Spurs’ best homegrown player of a generation, becoming the club’s all-time top scorer with 280 goals in 435 games and climbing to second in the Premier League ranks with 213, behind only Alan Shearer’s 260.
Yet for all the goals, and three Premier League Golden Boots, a decade in lilywhite yielded only a series of near-misses – a Champions League final defeat by Liverpool, twice runners-up in the League Cup and beaten to the title in successive seasons by Leicester and Chelsea.
That story repeated itself with England, as they were runners-up at the past two European Championships and beaten in the 2018 World Cup semi-final by Croatia, despite Kane winning the Golden Boot in Russia seven years ago and finishing as joint top-scorer at last summer’s Euros.
“I always said that if Harry leaves Spurs, he will get the opportunity to win titles,” added Klinsmann, who also won his only championship after leaving Tottenham for Bayern in 1995.
Indeed, trophies seemed like a foregone conclusion when Kane joined Bayern for an initial 100m euros (£86.4m) in August 2023 – a club who had won 11 successive Bundesliga titles before his arrival.
Kane even had a shot at silverware on his debut, but Bayern lost 3-0 to RB Leipzig in the German Super Cup at Allianz Arena with the England captain coming off the bench for the final half hour.
Was he cursed? When Bayern were then knocked out of the German Cup by third-tier Saarbrucken, some may have believed so.
Leverkusen ran away with the league as Bayern finished third, their lowest position since 2011, while Thomas Tuchel’s side were beaten by eventual winners Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals.
“People made bad jokes about him,” explained Taufig Khalil, commentator for ARD Radio.
“Bayern Munich won the German championship 11 years in a row, Harry Kane came for 100m-plus and the next season Bayern Munich did not win a single trophy!
“It was tough for him. He came to Munich because he knew this is the club where you can win trophies, where you will be on top. And then he came and it was a very bad season last year.”
‘People love him’ – the importance of fitting in
Kane never wavered in his desire to keep improving after becoming the Bundesliga’s record signing. He spoke recently about studying the game’s greats and having the drive to consistently be one of the world’s best.
He has dealt with the pressure of essentially replacing Robert Lewandowski, who left in 2022 as Bayern’s second all-time scorer behind Gerd Muller.
“Bayern Munich has a huge tradition of number nines,” explained Klinsmann.
“There is always a special eye on them. To fill that spot is just an honour. It’s something very special. He knows that he is followed closely by everyone.”
And not just in Munich – Khalil said rival fans see it as a privilege to have Kane in Germany: “When the captain of the Three Lions is playing in the Bundesliga – wow, that’s big!”
Yet there is no superstar ego on boy from east London.
He is regarded as incredibly professional and a leader among the squad – a player a lot of his younger team-mates look up to and someone who is very respectful, whether that be in training or completing the many media and partner obligations that come with representing a European giant like Bayern.
“He has a royal approach,” added Khalil. “When he enters the stadium, he greets everybody, he is very friendly. If there is a moment he doesn’t want to talk in the mixed zone, then he excuses himself. A lot of other players walk through with headphones on or use the telephone and try not to look in the eyes of the media.
“Normally he stops, he is always ready to talk. He is an absolutely leading person in that club. He gives a lot of that James Bond gratitude – he is the striker with the licence to score!”
Kane has thrown himself into life in Munich, embracing the culture, trips to Oktoberfest, visiting supporters’ clubs and taking German lessons, even if he has previously joked his kids will learn the language before him.
“What he’s done extremely well is adapt to Bavaria with so much ease,” said Klinsmann. “He became part of the lifestyle, the city and his family just fit into the way of life there.
“It’s an international place, Munich, so it’s not too problematic but still, you’ve got to go to another country and keep your work-rate at the highest level while figuring out that your family are comfortable and having a good time.”
He is popular, too. Kane quickly struck up a friendship with Bayern’s all-time leading appearance-maker Thomas Muller, who will leave at the end of the season, and is known to play golf with the Germany forward and midfielder Konrad Laimer, among others.
Naturally, he is also good friends with former Spurs team-mate Eric Dier, another player well-liked throughout the squad, with both England internationals regarded as being important to team chemistry at Bayern.
“The people love him,” added Klinsmann. “He is just himself. He is humble and down to earth. He focuses on what is important and for him, that is scoring goals.”
‘No-one deserves title more than Kane’
After six final defeats – three with Spurs, two with England and one with Bayern – the humble yet ruthless goal-getter’s perseverance has paid off.
Kane’s first German title is Bayern Munich’s 34th, but there can be no doubting the Englishman’s importance to Kompany’s side.
“It helps when you have a top player who wants to run and fight for the team like a youth player,” said the former Manchester City and Belgium captain. “I played against him as an opponent and he has become better with age.”
Kane is the division’s top scorer with 24 goals and has 36 in all competitions this season, having scored 11 in the Champions League.
That was a competition in which Bayern were desperate to reach the final at their home stadium in Munich, but Kane missed a big chance in the quarter-final first leg against Inter and, despite scoring in the return in Milan, they were knocked out.
“At the end, we talked with him and he said, ‘yeah, everybody is right to expect me to make that goal, I didn’t do it, that’s fate,'” said Khalil, shrugging off critics who suggest Kane does not score in “big games”.
“Whenever there are bad moments, after the match, in the mixed zone, Harry walks through and he stops, he is talking, he accepts the situation.”
Bayern were also knocked out of the German Cup by Leverkusen, but in the Bundesliga – bar a brief wobble in March when they lost at home to lowly Bochum – Kompany’s side, with Kane at its heart, have led from the front.
His form during this title run is a continuation of what began in his debut season, where he netted 36 times – only Gerd Muller and Lewandowski have scored more in a single Bundesliga campaign.
“The team clicks well with the players around him,” said Klinsmann. “He plays in a system that he’s getting fed by attacking midfielders.
“He’s extremely important to the Bayern side and he’s done a fantastic job from day one.”
In April, he became the fastest player to hit 60 goals in the competition, doing so in 60 appearances to break Erling Haaland’s record by five games. He also registered 15 assists in that time to average a goal involvement every 72 minutes.
“He fights, he works, he scores an incredible number of goals,” added Bayern’s honorary president Uli Hoeness. “No-one deserves it more than him.”
What next for Kane?
Khalil believes more trophies will follow for Kane, and Bayern’s focus will soon switch to winning the Fifa Club World Cup in the United States this summer.
“The moment Bayern Munich went out of the Champions League, they started to talk about the Club World Cup,” he said. “It’s another big trophy, an international trophy, and they would make a lot of money.”
That could play a role in Kane’s future and whether Bayern can afford to add widely linked, but expensive, target Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen.
“Everybody wants him to stay,” said Khalil, with Kane’s contract running until 2027.
“The question is, would Florian Wirtz together with Jamal Musiala, the two German youngsters playing side by side, work with a central box striker and how much money do you want to spend on Harry Kane for next season?
“For me, that’s stupid, I definitely see him next year in the Bundesliga. They have to find another way to finance Florian Wirtz.
“I think we will see Harry Kane for at least another year.“-BBC
