After Harry Kane’s three final heartbreaks with Tottenham and England his first major trophy win, the Bundesliga title we originally thought to be immediately inevitable, was on reflection never going to be straightforward. Last week’s yellow card against Augsburg kept him in the stands for Bayern Munich’s potential title clincher at RB Leipzig (a visibly annoyed Kane suggested referee Bastian Dankert had been “trying to make a name for himself” after the harsh booking, issued when he didn’t return the ball quickly enough after he was whistled for a foul). Then Yusuf Poulsen’s 95th-minute equaliser for the hosts meant Bayern weren’t quite there mathematically, even though Thomas Müller felt comfortable enough to lead the players and a trench-coated Kane through some frolics with the away fans on Saturday. Leverkusen only drawing at Freiburg on Sunday has, at last, finally sealed the deal. Kane’s Bayern destiny has been fulfilled, and no apparent jinx could get in the way this time.
On the day he signed in August 2023 Munich was balmy, in terms of weather and mood. It was the morning of Bayern’s DFL-Supercup game against RB Leipzig and as the thermometers crept above 30C, hot and bothered fans queued outside the multiple Bayern fan shops in the city centre with the aim of getting their hands on one item: the new, white-with-red-trim home jersey with “Kane 9” on the back. The red-on-white, multi-lined font of name and number – a throwback to the figures adorning the backs of Bayern’s 1974 European Cup winners – hinted at a new era of glory.
And then the new legend, that of the Kane Curse, was born. That Saturday evening he took a place on the substitutes’ bench. By the time he was introduced by Thomas Tuchel Leipzig led 2-0; minutes after his entrance the champions and hosts trailed by three. What should have been the perfect soft launch, getting Kane off the ground at Bayern with some instant silverware, turned into a deflating reality check. England’s captain had moved to Germany with the aim of breaking his trophy duck. The season curtain-raiser made clear that it just wouldn’t be that simple, as Bayer Leverkusen spent the next nine months showing him, and Bayern, how.
Not that any of it was his fault because, frankly, Kane could not have done any more. Since day one “Herry Kane” (as it is pronounced in Germany) has been a smash hit on and off the field, underlining that it is one thing to see a superstar from a distance and another to have him in your own backyard, appreciating every polished quality and nuance of his game. Thomas Müller was key in Kane’s adaptation, publicly cheerleading for him from the minute Kane arrived at the club’s Säbener Straße training ground and getting him on to the team council of senior players before the new arrival could speak even a few words of German.
The numbers have been extraordinary – 44 goals in his debut season including 36 in the Bundesliga, where for a long time he threatened Robert Lewandowski’s season record of 41 from 2020-21, which beat a seemingly unbeatable Gerd Müller milestone that had stood for almost five decades. Kane has added another 36 so far this term. His opener in the victory over St Pauli at the end of March took him to 100 goal involvements (77 goals, 23 assists) for Bayern.
Yet the figures don’t fully explain how and why Kane has come to be the subject of such affection at Bayern. It might have been expected that the relationship would be transactional: elite club seeks elite goalscorer, frustrated star seeks superclub to scratch silverware itch.
Instead it has turned out that Bayern and Kane were made for each other; on the pitch, where his relentless goalscoring is matched by his elite passing, feeding Jamal Musiala and the squad’s typically stacked wing talent; and off the pitch, where his good-natured embrace of club tradition (especially at supporter events) sits alongside his innate Englishness, rising above the usual ego-driven squabbles and the airing of dirty linen in public that often characterises life at FC Hollywood.
It is not difficult to make the case that whereas Lewandowski was admired at Bayern, Kane is loved. You can argue this is partially because the Pole starred for a Bundesliga rival before he arrived, and partly because of the perception he fished for a move to La Liga a good while before the move to Barcelona came to fruition in 2022. But mainly it’s because Kane has it all. He is businesslike and relatable, star and servant, scorer and provider. Artisan and artist.
It hasn’t all been plain sailing on an individual level. Keeping injury at bay has been a challenge, despite Bayern’s determination to protect their star asset (last season’s shock DFB-Pokal exit to third-tier Saarbrücken, which a bemused-looking Kane watched from the bench as his side missed chance after chance before conceding a late winner, was a case in point).
Tuchel was initially criticised for taking off Kane in the closing stages of the Champions League semi-final second leg at Real Madrid last year with Bayern winning, only for Joselu’s two late goals to suddenly necessitate a rabbit from a hat that his key man was no longer there to provide. It turned out the future England coach was right, with Kane’s back injury badly hampering his displays at Euro 2024.
At that point brows began to furrow in Bavaria. Though his performance has been unimpeachable since arriving, paying a Bundesliga record fee of more than €100m for an established star heading into his 30s with a year left on his Tottenham contract was such a cultural break from German football’s norm that a sense of guilt and unease about it has never really gone away. The knowledge that Bayern put all their eggs in the Kane basket means every little knock he takes makes many reconsiderhow safe that investment was.
Kane has normally rebuffed any doubts with sheer weight of numbers. That was not the case in the Champions League quarter-final with Inter this month, when he missed a string of clear chances in the first (home) leg in particular which Bayern, facing elite opponents while managing an extensive injury list, simply could not afford. Few, however, would think of chiding Kane for this. He has more than filled the Lewandowski-shaped hole that gaped before his arrival. He has lifted the players around him as only the elite can do and, in helping to pulverise Leverkusen in the previous Champions League round, he arguably broke the spirit of Xabi Alonso’s side, ensuring Bayern’s new competitors could not deny them the Bundesliga title as they did last season.
Kane will not be denied any more. A regular spot playing in the Champions League is what he deserved on arriving, but the silverware is what he really wanted. Finally, it is what he has got – and he has plenty of time left to celebrate, and traditional beer showers to negotiate, back in Munich.
