Over the past decade and a bit, football has been blessed with incredibly talented strikers, such as Karim Benzema, Luis Suarez and Robert Lewandowski, but very rarely is England captain Harry Kane mentioned in the same bracket. While it isn't too much of a mystery as to why the former Tottenham Hotspur forward is overlooked in those conversations, his form at Bayern Munich begs the question: What if he had spent his entire career playing for elite clubs? Just three months into his new journey and Kane has already contributed to 28 goals in just 16 appearances. Will he finally get the respect he deserves? Are major trophies around the corner for the player both Manchester City and Manchester United tried, but failed, to sign? Soccer Laduma specialist journalist Kurt Buckerfield details Kane's career so far.
From an academy graduate to club legend
With more than 300 goals for club and country, suggesting Harry Kane's abilities are understated sounds bizarre, but it isn't often fans will be sitting around a table, drinks in hand, discussing Karim Benzema's Ballon d'Or year of 2022, the astonishingly good goals Luis Suarez scored in the Premier League for Liverpool, the records Robert Lewandowski broke in Germany and the Englishman's… and that's the point, right? Benzema's brilliance at Real Madrid was rewarded with title after title, Suarez left the Reds to join Barcelona and lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy a year later, and Lewandowski will forever be talked about as the player who was, in the eyes of many, unfairly beaten to the sport's most prestigious individual accolade by Lionel Messi in 2021. Kane, meanwhile, is 30 years old and is yet to add a trophy to his name. Football can be harsh in this way, and so can fans, who tend to judge players on the things they won. In Kane's case, he is judged on what he hasn't.
The Three Lions skipper is a product of Tottenham Hotspur's academy, and, despite growing up an Arsenal fan, the Lilywhites would grow to be the club he adored most after bursting on the scene for the London-based side in 2013. At first, his path to where he is today was far from obvious as, for fans around the world at least, he was almost totally unknown when he made his Premier League debut against Cardiff City in September that year. Kane had actually appeared in two UEFA Europa League qualifying matches in August 2013, but started the campaign well behind more experienced forwards such as Roberto Soldado, whom Spurs paid good money to sign from Valencia that same month, and Jermain Defoe, who, by that time, was considered one of the club's greatest strikers of all time, in the pecking order. As the season wore on, it became increasingly clear Soldado wasn't a long-term solution up front after he scored only four league goals before Andre Villas-Boas was sacked in December, while Defoe would later leave under caretaker-turn-permanent boss Tim Sherwood in February 2014.
After recovering from a back injury, Kane began to get chances under Sherwood between January and May, finishing the season with three goals and two assists in the league. Scoring would then become routine for Kane, who left the club a decade later as its all-time top goalscorer (278) and a three-time Premier League Golden Boot winner (2015/16, 2016/17, 2020/21). In 430 appearances across all competitions, he was directly involved in a remarkable 342 goals, a record that feels only truly appreciated by the club's fanbase.
Why moves to City and United didn't materialise
Throughout his time at the north Londoners, Kane was heavily linked with multiple top clubs around the world almost on a yearly basis. Real, at one point, were believed to hold a serious interest in his signature, but before his eventual transfer to Bayern Munich earlier this year in a deal worth €95 million (R1.9 billion), it wasn't until his push to join Pep Guardiola in Manchester that Spurs' resolve was properly tested. In 2021, the striker failed to turn up for preseason after informing the Lilywhites of his desire to leave, actions for which he was later punished after chairman Daniel Levy flat-out refused to sell his then-most cherished asset for less than €170 million (R3.4 billion) amid City's pursuit. Levy, it has since been reported, landed on that figure following Jack Grealish's €114 million (R2.2 billion) move to the Citizens earlier in that same window, feeling Kane, given his longevity and experience in the Premier League, was simply more valuable than his England teammate. Guardiola later admitted the two clubs couldn't reach an agreement, saying, "We tried, but it was far away to be done, because Tottenham was clear this is not going to happen. And when that happens two or three or four times, it's over." City certainly haven't looked back as they've continued to rack up titles across competitions, but one must wonder what if it were Kane in Erling Haaland's position, and whether things would be any different to how they are today. United, urged by Erik ten Hag, then tried to move for the
Three Lions skipper at the start of the season, but encountered a similar fate. Levy's mind was made up; he wasn't selling Kane to a Premier League rival club, opening the door for Bayern and Thomas Tuchel to introduce him to the Bundesliga.
Flying in Germany
The DFL Super Cup final presented Kane with the opportunity to claim his first winner's medal, but he was quickly reminded of football's harshness, just a day after being officially unveiled as a Bayern player, as the Bavarians were thrashed 3-0 by RB Leipzig. The 30-year-old was brought on as a second-half substitute with Tuchel's team already two goals behind, and could only watch on as his defence conceded a third. Fans online had already prepared their "Kane has achieved in two days in Germany what he couldn't in 10 years at Spurs" social media posts, only for the script to be rewritten. Trophies at Bayern, however, will almost certainly come for Kane, especially if he continues as he has been. Since making his debut for his new club, the forward has already scored 21 goals, including three Bundesliga hat-tricks, and has assisted a further seven strikes. With four in the Champions League, Kane has taken his overall tally in the European competition to 26 goals in just 37 appearances, with this season being just his sixth in the continent's biggest club tournament.
88 caps in and still England's hope
A long list of world-class strikers have represented the Three Lions over the years, but none of them, not Wayne Rooney nor Alan Shearer, scored more times for England than Kane has. The Bayern No. 9 has been capped on 88 occasions since making his international debut in 2015, and has amassed an unmatched 62 goals. Four of those have come in UEFA European Championships, while eight of them have come in just 11 FIFA World Cup appearances. Heading into Euro 2024, Kane is still, by a long way, his country's best centre-forward and is expected to carry the hopes of his nation on his shoulders once again, this time in Germany, terrains he will, by then, be well acquainted with.
