It’s been a long time coming, but finally Harry Kane has his hands on a piece of silverware as Bayern Munich have won the Bundesliga title. Undoubtedly one of the finest strikers of his generation, just why has it taken him so long? And is this the start of an immensely successful period for the England captain? Matt Frohlich is joined by Ed McCambridge to discuss all this and more.
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00:00And I think when he does hang up his boots, no matter how many trophies he gets at Bayern
00:03or whether or not he breaks Shearer's record in England, he will go down as an absolute all-time
00:08great, and I'm talking of any nation, an all-time great footballer.
00:11It's been a long time coming, but finally Harry Kane has his hands on a piece of silverware.
00:16Undoubtedly one of the finest strikers of his generation, just why has it taken him so long?
00:21And is this the start of an immensely successful period for the England captain?
00:25I'm Matt Froelich for 442, and this is the story of Harry Kane's first trophy.
00:33So if you're aware of Kane's ability, but maybe unaware of his career, the two don't necessarily
00:38match up, you may be asking yourself at this point, why on earth has it taken so long?
00:43Well, there's plenty of theories to look into, but the long and short of it is, is that he
00:46was playing in the Tottenham team where for one reason or another, the big games, the big
00:50moments just happened to pass him and the club by.
00:53Common schools of thought often ridicule him for not scoring in the semi-finals of the
00:57finals that he and the club found themselves in, or equally to put the blame at the doorstep
01:01of the club itself, with their recent history of not quite seizing the moment.
01:05But in the fairness of a balanced argument, there are two sides to this coin.
01:09The other side says that one player doesn't make a team, and sometimes you just have to
01:13admit when you've been beaten by a better opponent.
01:15For example, both Mo Salah and Thierry Henry have terrible records in finals, with just one
01:21goal and one assist each in nine and ten finals respectively, but they've been part of fantastic
01:26teams and as such, can proudly boast a full trophy cabinet.
01:29As for admitting the opposition are better, Spurs, with Kane, met the likes of Man City,
01:33Chelsea and Liverpool in their quest for glory over the last decade.
01:37Sides either notoriously difficult to beat, or riding the wave of the impossible turned
01:42possible like Leicester City.
01:43Still, to score so many goals in an underachieving Spurs side is nothing short of miraculous.
01:49You know, scoring that number of goals, I think there was a season three or four years
01:52ago where he scored the most Premier League goals and got the most assists in a single
01:56season.
01:57That right there is Ed McCambridge, our German-based 4-4-2 journalist, Bundesliga expert, and according
02:03to himself, not a bad football player either.
02:05Which is astonishing at Tottenham.
02:08I mean, it's all well and good doing it for Manchester City or Liverpool when they're getting
02:11nearly 100 points a season, but he was playing for a Tottenham team that often wasn't competing
02:16at the top end of the Premier League and he was consistently the best player in the league.
02:20One of the toughest leagues in the world, as we know.
02:23He scored similar numbers of goals to the likes of Benzema and Lewandowski, if not Ronaldo
02:28and Messi, but you know, certainly in that second category.
02:31With Kane's eventual move to Bayern last time at age 30, it seemed like he was escaping the
02:35judgment in the Premier League and was nailed on to win a trophy.
02:38Well, sort of.
02:40In fact, as luck would have it, and throwing back to what I mentioned about Kane finding
02:43himself in tough or improbable situations, his first season at Bayern Munich saw Bayer Leverkusen
02:48put together the Bundesliga's first ever unbeaten title victory.
02:52This freak incident aside though, a trophy did seem inevitable for him.
02:56Since he's joined the club, there's been a fair amount of banter, particularly from those
03:00in England, about the fact that it's taken him this long to actually win a trophy.
03:05I mean, this was supposed to be the banker.
03:06He was supposed to move straight to Bayern and finally break his silverware duck and get
03:10his hands on some trophies.
03:11And he didn't in his first season.
03:13So there's been a bit of banter around that.
03:15Obviously, that will go away now.
03:17But inside of Germany, from the get-go, it's been overwhelmingly positive.
03:21I mean, since the day he signed, fans and experts and pundits have been so excited that
03:27this world-class player in his prime has swapped the Premier League for a Bundesliga signed.
03:33Now, as England captain, playing in Germany, the old arch-rivals of English football, you'd
03:39think that Kane was in for a little bit of a frosty reception.
03:42But as Ed alluded to, they actually quite like him at Bayern Munich.
03:45And certainly this lack of winning mentality that he was accused of by some corners of
03:49the English media was way off the mark.
03:52Yeah, definitely.
03:53I mean, on the pitch, he's massively popular with his coaches, with his teammates.
03:56I mean, Thomas Tuchel, the coach who managed to lure him over from Tottenham, and also Vincent
04:02Kompany, his current coach, have talked about what a professional he is, the way he handles
04:06himself for training, the way he prepares for games.
04:09And the other leaders in the dressing room, the likes of Manuel Neuer, the club captain,
04:12Thomas Muller, who's leaving the club at the end of the season, and Joshua Kimmich,
04:16you know, the real leaders in that dressing room, have spoken about the character that
04:20he brings to the club.
04:22And, you know, he's talking about the sort of thing that Roy Keane likes to bang on about,
04:25you know, being in the trenches, being the man to rely upon when the chips are down.
04:29And he's produced in these big moments.
04:31And Manuel Neuer has spoken about this very English sense of humour that Kane has brought
04:36to the club.
04:37And he's got involved with all the classic cultural things that go on at Bayern, the wearing
04:41of the lederhosen at the Oktoberfest day.
04:43I know his children are very happy at school in Bavaria, and they're learning German.
04:48And if you, you know, don't forget that Bayern actually also brought over Eric Dier, who's,
04:54you know, a very good player.
04:55Let's not mug Eric Dier off.
04:56But he may not have got a move to Bayern if it wasn't for Harry Kane.
04:59So they've done basically everything they possibly can to accommodate him, the club and
05:03his teammates.
05:04And he is a hugely popular figure at Bayern, as well as a brilliant player.
05:08Now, getting on with your teammates is definitely an important factor in success.
05:11And it's something that Harry Kane needed to do if he was to surmount the insurmountable
05:15task, replacing Robert Lewandowski.
05:18The now Barcelona man scored an incredible 344 goals in 375 games for Bayern, winning absolutely
05:25everything there was to win multiple times.
05:27In fact, he left the club having won the league in all eight of his seasons there, including
05:31the treble in 2020.
05:32So the main aim for Kane was to bring a similar quantity of goals.
05:35But as has been clear throughout his career, there's more to him than meets the eye.
05:40His main objective was to replace the goals scored by Robert Lewandowski, which was never
05:45going to be easy.
05:45But he's done that to a large degree.
05:47And on top of that, he's added a certain level of creativity.
05:50I mean, he's hit double figures for assists in all competitions across both campaigns.
05:55And everyone at Bayern's really appreciate this range of passing that we know he had from
05:59Tottenham, his tendency to drop deep and bring out the best in others.
06:03Zane in particular has really benefited.
06:05But the other wingers as well, the likes of Kingsley Coman and Michael Alisse, who's
06:09had a brilliant first season at Bayern, they're all thriving thanks to Harry Kane's movement
06:14and his ability to bring others into play.
06:17And I think a lot of Bayern fans were really crushed when Robert Lewandowski left the club
06:22because obviously the amount of goals he scored.
06:23But there is a sense, I think, among the fan base that the current number nine is a better
06:28all-round player and he's bringing the best out of his teammates.
06:31A lot of Bayern's play was geared just towards Robert Lewandowski scoring goals when he was
06:36at the club.
06:37And now there's more of a share around and that's a lot to do with Kane.
06:40So with all the things that Kane can and has demonstrated on the pitch, the goal scoring,
06:44the creativity, the leadership, I'd be inclined to think he actually puts the big successes
06:48like the Champions League on his own shoulders as much as the fans and his teammates turn to
06:52him for inspiration.
06:54But as it turns out, this reliance on him as a central striker, the figurehead of the
06:58Bayern attack is nothing new to the club whatsoever.
07:01Well, Bayern, more so than almost any other club I can think of, have always relied massively
07:06on a single number nine.
07:08I mean, you know, they've had the likes of Lewandowski, obviously, Gerard Müller, the
07:12brilliant player in the 60s and 70s, Roy McKay, Giovanni Elba, Jürgen Klinsmann, Gomez,
07:17Mandzukic.
07:18They love this big, powerful number nine.
07:20So they're always going to rely heavily on Harry Kane in all their competitions.
07:24Next season, it'll be the exact same.
07:26They'll be relying on Kane to produce the goods, both in the league and in the Champions
07:30League and cup competitions.
07:32So much at Bayern is geared around getting their number nine to score goals.
07:36And so obviously, the success and failure of every season and every competition will
07:41largely rest on Harry Kane's shoulders.
07:43So let's throw a hypothetical out there.
07:45Harry Kane and Bayern Munich return to the top of German football with the league, the cup
07:48in the next few years, maybe even European football too, if they can win a Champions
07:52League.
07:53Does Harry Kane then stay and continue to win more and more and more trophies?
07:57Or is there the chance of a romantic return to the Premier League at some point?
08:01Well, I think there's always going to be talk of a return to England.
08:04That always happens with English players.
08:05You know, Jude Bellingham, will he come, you know, will he leave Real Madrid and come to
08:08the Premier League someday?
08:10Even more so in Harry Kane's case, because there is a sense that he's got this unfinished
08:14business in English football.
08:16He was pretty close to breaking Shearer's all-time Premier League goal-scoring record.
08:21It would still be within his grasp if he came back to England soon-ish.
08:25So that talk's never going to go away.
08:28In terms of leaving Bayern, I mean, the question I would ask is, why would you bother?
08:33Why would he leave?
08:34I mean, maybe he'll come back to the Premier League someday.
08:36But I mean, in the short term, over the next two or three seasons, what would be the
08:39point?
08:40I think, you know, he's a fit guy.
08:43He can probably carry on playing for another four or five years at the top level.
08:47And where better to play than Bayern Munich, where, like I say, success is almost guaranteed.
08:52Well, regardless of where Kane's future footballing success lies, one thing can't be taken away
08:56for him.
08:56The fact that now, at long last, he has got his hands on some silverware that an outstanding
09:02career has thoroughly deserved.
09:04That's all from me for today.
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09:11But until then, I'll see you in the next video.