Munich calling: Why the time is ripe for Harry Kane to leave Tottenham Hotspur | Football News
Among the many jokes that frequently popped up during the turbulent few days in 2021 after the European Super League was announced by 12 clubs was Tottenham Hotspur being one of them. While the rest of the clubs in the much derided league had an established history of winning trophies, here was a side who have won their domestic league title just twice, the last of which came well before The Beatles gained popularity outside the United Kingdom.
Spurs are possibly among the best examples of randomness in sport. When not joking about them, it is quite difficult to dismiss their pedigree to challenge for the big titles. They have demonstrated this pedigree in the recent past as well. Moreover, Spurs were listed as the ninth most valuable football club in the world this year, above the likes of their cross-town rivals Arsenal and Italian giants Juventus, AC Milan and Inter. And yet, a number of clubs who are considered lesser than them have crossed their title tally since they last won the English top flight back in 1961. Perhaps this dichotomy of the club’s size and their dusty trophy cabinet is best seen through the career of their star striker Harry Kane, who if reports are to be believed is soon to depart for German giants Bayern Munich. Bayern, the serial Bundesliga winners and six-time European champions, are placed just three places above Spurs on that list.
Kane was an integral part of the team who under Mauricio Pochettino competed for the Premier League title and reached the 2019 Champions League final. He established himself as arguably the best striker in the world in that period and even showed his ability in the No.10 role as a playmaker, forming a potent working relationship up front with Dele Alli and Son Heung-Min. Kane’s goalscoring prowess never dipped even after Pochettino’s time in North London came to an end but Spurs seem to have gone farther and farther away from being a team who can seriously compete for titles.
One of their own
Born on July 28, 1993 Walthamstow, which is a stone’s throw away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Kane made his first team debut for the club on August 25, 2011 after a loan spell at Leyton Orient. He would be loaned out to Millwall, Norwich City and even Leicester City, the club that would sensationally keep Tottenham away from the Premier League title in 2016, before establishing himself as a first team regular in 2014/15. About three years later, Kane became the second fastest behind Alan Shearer to get to 100 goals. That year he was also named captain of England and signed a contract with Spurs that kept him at the club till 2024. Spurs would just about make it to the top four next season but in Europe, they reached the Champions League final for the first time in the club’s history. Kane became their highest ever goalscorer in Europe that year. But the striker had suffered an ankle injury in the quarter-final against Manchester City and his selection in the final, in which Spurs were beaten 2-0 by Liverpool, became a subject of controversy.
Spurs fans may have hoped that the season was the start of the team’s push for the big honours but, as it turned out, it was instead the peak of Pochettino’s stewardship. A string of poor results next season led the the Argentine being sacked and Kane himself was injured before the season itself got a massive interruption thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, Spurs have reached the top four just once in four seasons and they finished eighth in 2022/23. Kane, though, returned to full fitness and continued banging in the goals, winning his third golden boot in 2020/21 and even being named playmaker of the season that year.
A desire to leave
Speculation as to how long Spurs can hold on to Kane had always been around but it is in 2021 that it truly exploded into a full blown possibility. There were murmurs of Kane expressing his desire to leave, a gentlemen’s agreement not being honoured by club chairman Daniel Levy and a 127 million pound bid from Manchester City being rejected.
Kane didn’t turn up for pre-season training that year and eventually made his league appearance on August 22 as a substitute against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Three days later, Kane said that he will be staying with Spurs “this summer”. He ended up staying the next season as well and in that period, became Spurs’ all-time highest goalscorer.
Now for the titles
Kane’s transfer saga popped up again in the ongoing transfer window and this time, it seems the England captain will go through with it. He was fully involved in the pre-season for Spurs and was reportedly impressed with new manager Ange Postecoglou, but Kane is now 30. He would know that the number of years he has in which he could be playing at his best is only decreasing. Even if he does stay, Spurs winning any titles this season with Pep Guardiola’s City, Erik Ten Hag’s Manchester United and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal looking as strong as they are would be a complete and utter surprise. Moreover, it wouldn’t be too wrong to assume that he would want to play in an environment where winning titles is a basic requirement and a trophyless season is an unmitigated disaster, which is exactly what Bayern Munich would be like.
The undisputed rulers of the German league had significant trouble holding on to their fiefdom last season and that was largely because of a Robert Lewandowski-shaped hole up front. They were also blown out of the Champions League by eventual winners Manchester City. It is easy to see why Tomas Tuchel has asked Bayern to break the bank on Kane, who has often been spoken of in the same sentence as Lewandowski when the discussions roam around who the best striker is in the world. Moreover, it makes sense for Spurs to sell him this season, rather than let him go for free next year when his contract runs out.
For Spurs fans, the departure of Kane would effectively mark the end of an era. An era in which the club looked as strong as they have ever been, were recognised among the best teams in Europe at various points and had a serious chance to win some of the biggest trophies. Kane himself is Spurs through and through and it won’t be too far fetched to say that if the club do win something this season, he would be dancing in front of the television in Munich. Unless he is busy scoring goals for Bayern at that time, of course.
