Harry Kane has been in excellent form in the Bundesliga this season and the fans love him. Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
It was the thousand-yard stare that sparked a million gratuitous jokes. In the aftermath of Bayern Munich's 2-0 home defeat to Borussia Dortmund last month, Harry Kane looked as if his soul had just been sucked out of his body. And so, with the cruelty he expected, he was bombarded with the usual ridicule: that he had moved to a single-team league and still had not won a trophy, that Kingsley Coman had collected 11 Bundesliga crowns in a row while Kane became his team-mate.Domestically, Kane's fate this season is sealed. Bayer Leverkusen, 16 points behind in Germany, are poised – at a particularly unfortunate moment for the England captain – to win the first league title in their history. Granit Xhaka, who suffered many misses in the Premier League with Arsenal, should be crowned league champion before him. It's all grist to the mill of the Kane ridicule industry, which is already rife with reminders that the striker has won fewer major awards than Liverpool's 18-year-old Jayden Dunnes.
You wonder if any player of his background has had to deal with so much twisted ridicule. While Kane should be expecting a winter welcome at Arsenal on Tuesday night, with his boyhood support for the club long since rendered redundant by his 14 years of service to Tottenham, the ridicule he attracts elsewhere is baffling. All that cries of “you can take the boy out of Spurs, but not the Spurs out of the boy”: is it really appropriate for a man who scored 62 goals for England, nine more than any other player to represent the Three Lions “? Although respect is earned rather than given, there remains a sense that Kane deserves much more than just being the butt of ridicule.
Adapting to life in Bavaria, Kane may still be working on his German, but he's already familiar with the concept of schadenfreude. Critics have reveled in his misfortune since he lost his first League Cup in 2015, and a plethora of pro-Leverkusen memes suggest the disdain shows no sign of abating.
Never has this image looked more out of touch with reality. At 30, Kane is having perhaps the best season of his career, belying his image as a six-yard robber with an average of 1.37 goals and assists per 90 minutes. This is the highest figure among Europe's top five leagues, with only Kylian Mbappe coming close. Thus, in his adopted land he is not ridiculed, but praised. Deutsche Welle released a video highlighting his versatility, highlighting the ease with which he can switch from scoring with his right foot to his left and how he can be just as deadly from long range as at point-blank range.
Bayern's relative mediocrity has had little impact on Kane of late. En route to a 3-2 defeat in Heidenheim last Saturday, he finished with customary precision. Even now there is a feeling that he may still have the last word to his ill-wishers. Bayern are still serious Champions League contenders despite occupying the much tougher half of the table alongside Arsenal, Real Madrid and Manchester City. Plus, with 32 Bundesliga goals, he has the added incentive of trying to break Robert Lewandowski's single-season record of 41 goals. This is an achievement worth celebrating. Not since Kevin Keegan won two Ballon d'Ors with Hamburg has an Englishman had such a convulsive influence on German football.
But doubts about Kane can be personal, sometimes unpleasant. Regardless of his reliability for club and country, he was condemned in interviews for his wooden personality, even for his voice. In 2020, an ESPN producer had a humiliating moment behind the microphone when he was caught saying, “I hate to hear him talk. He has a strange voice. That's what stands out about him.”
Fast forward four years and there's much more that stands out about Kane: he has the most European and World Cup appearances in history, a Golden Boot and 245 top division goals at club level. He was absolutely confident that he would beat Shearer's record, but instead decided to set himself a new challenge in his work and his life. These are commendable qualities that a true professional can exemplify. On the occasion of his long-awaited return to north London, it is long past time for an end to the ridicule and incitement.
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