Harry Kane Reflects on Premier League Record and Bayern Munich Success
Harry Kane admits the pull of the Premier League and Alan Shearer’s record no longer tugs at him like it once did.
The England captain, who left Tottenham for Bayern Munich in 2023 after racking up 213 Premier League goals, had long been expected to return home to chase down Shearer’s mark of 260. That gap of 47 once looked like a mission. Now, it sounds more like a memory.
“When I first left, for sure it was something I thought – I would definitely be coming back. That itch isn't there as much anymore,” Kane said after receiving the Golden Shoe on Wednesday as last season’s Bundesliga top scorer.
Kane has exploded since swapping north London for Bavaria. Across club and country last season he struck 73 times, including a staggering 61 goals in 51 games for Bayern as Vincent Kompany’s side completed a domestic league and cup double. These are numbers that would dominate any era, in any league.
And he is in no rush to walk away from it.
“I am extremely happy here in Munich, it opened my eyes to a totally different world of football outside of England and it has made me appreciate European football even more,” he said. “I just think the team we have here and the manager, my family is really settled here, it is just about being in the best place possible.
“Never say never, but for now I am concentrating on Bayern Munich and we will see what the future holds.”
Kane is now into the final 12 months of the four-year contract he signed in his £86.4m move from Spurs, yet instead of agitating for a return to England, he is preparing to open talks over a new deal in Munich. The idea of chasing Shearer has been replaced by something else: maximising this version of himself.
And he is convinced this is the peak.
“I think this is the best version of myself for sure,” he said. “I think last season speaks for itself, from that sense the best season in my career no doubt.”
A big part of that, he insists, is Kompany. The former Manchester City defender arrived in 2024 and has quickly become central to Kane’s evolution.
“Since the boss has come in he has elevated my game to another level,” Kane explained. “That is down to the style of play, the way we attack and the way we defend, the way he gives players freedom to sometimes receive the ball deeper and sometimes arrive late in the box.”
This is not entirely new ground for him. At Tottenham, especially from the José Mourinho era onwards, Kane often dropped off the front line, threading passes into Son Heung-min and dictating attacks as much as finishing them.
“I also had a lot of this and these kind of different positions during my Tottenham career as well, especially from the Mourinho stage onwards, it was the same sort of thing – I had freedom to come deep and get the ball and I had a great relationship with Son Heung-min,” he said.
The difference now, in his eyes, is the platform around him in Munich: the depth of talent, the structure, the system tailored to his strengths.
“It has been building but I think this season with the team I have around me, the players we have and the system we play with the coach, it has just elevated me to another level.”
The Premier League record once defined the question around Kane’s career. Today, the more pressing one is different: if this is only the start of his Bayern peak, how high can he actually go?
