Harry Kane remains without a trophy in a legendary career. Photo: Getty Images/James Gill
It's terribly unfair, but the longer Harry Kane's battle of desires with Daniel Levy goes on, the more likely it is that he will be defined by the differences he lacks. Too often his career is viewed through this half-empty glass lens. Here is a man who scored 20 times from 12 yards for England, but he can still be remembered mainly because of the penalty he scored against France in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Here is a striker who scored 280 goals for Tottenham but is now at risk because his chairman has turned down offers from Bayern Munich to be named the best player of his generation who has never won a trophy.
The shadow is chasing. him at every turn. As soon as Tottenham Hotspur beat Singapore's Lion City Sailors in a friendly last month, the joke began to circulate that Kane would always, no matter what happened in the Bayern talks, have the 2023 Tiger Cup. He could not even calmly attend the Super Bowl. When he posed with the Vince Lombardi trophy in 2019, Arsenal fans scoffed that he had to fly to Atlanta just to touch the table silver cup.
If the choice of «hold or spin» was to be made by Kane alone, the discussion should have ended a few weeks ago. By now, he should have not only accepted Bayern's offer, but also booked tickets for Oktoberfest and asked Leroy Sane for advice on the best house to buy in the Grunwald area. Kane has only been out of the Champions League round of 16 in his 12-year career at Tottenham and is now being pursued hard by a club that has won two, not to mention 11, Bundesliga titles in a single match in the same time frame. row. The 30-year-old centre-forward, relentless in his pursuit of tangible success, should book a one-way ticket to Bayern.
One of the frames of the Kane saga is that he is content to stay at Tottenham but wants to hear what Bayern have to offer. What, other than £96m, a near-specific guarantee of a trophy in his first season, guaranteed Champions League football and the chance to write his name into the folklore of a true European behemoth? You can forgive the Munich negotiators for wondering why this is taking so long.
The package they offer is so absurdly attractive that even superstars tend to get it right quickly. When Bayern decided in 2013 that they wanted to poach Robert Lewandowski away from rivals Borussia Dortmund, a preliminary deal was signed eight months before the Pole was finally introduced as a first-team player. This is a club not used to hitting hard or being told they have to pay nine figures for someone in his fourth decade with just one year left on his contract.
But intransigence is the time-tested path of Levi. And Kane has shown, ever since his academy days when he idolized Teddy Sheringham, that he is nothing short of loyal. However, the more the pattern of summer brinkmanship is repeated, the stronger the feeling becomes that his relationship with the childhood club is turning into a loveless marriage. In 2021, his relationship with Manchester City went so far that many Tottenham fans booed him. In this case, the excitement was obvious: Kane made it clear to Levy that he wanted to leave. This time he was scrupulously diplomatic. Except that no one's patience is inexhaustible, especially when roadblocks are set up on every avenue outside of North London.
Jimmy Greaves' record for scoring is Kane's best moment in a Spurs jersey. Photo: Getty Images
Kane has nothing more to prove in Tottenham colors. When he broke Jimmy Greaves' club scoring record last winter, he deserved all the accolades. This 267th strike was a reflection of his amazing consistency in Levy's tumultuous age, achieved despite the revolving door of managers who have made up everyone from Tim Sherwood to Nuno Espiritu Santo. But individual accolades, as Gary Lineker recently pointed out, last a very long time. It's the team awards that leave lasting memories, and it's for them that Kane must take his chance before they slip away forever.
Harry Kane: sell or keep?
His work does not stand up to any challenge, but Kane still lacks brilliant trophy-raising moments. He had a platform, appeared in one European Championship final and one Champions League final, but didn't score in either as both nights faded into melancholy. Bayern offer him a precious path back to the most coveted stages. Tottenham? You wouldn't bet more readily that Ange Postecoglou would inspire you into the top four than that Levy cut short his vacation in Florida to give Kane an opportunity to escape.
Yes, Kane scored 30 goals last season, but these were scored. A campaign in which Tottenham limped to eighth and a culture of withering under pressure drove Antonio Conte to despair. Is this really the environment to which he should devote the rest of his best years? In response, he could do worse than look at the example of Gareth Bale. Although Bale was at times fickle to the point of insanity, he could respond to any criticism by holding up five fingers: one for every Champions League win he's won since moving from Tottenham to Real Madrid. What Kane would give to silence his detractors in the same way — if only Levy would let him do it.
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