MUNICH, GERMANY – AUGUST 11: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) Harry Kane of FC Bayern Muenchen during the … [+] unveiling of his signing on August 11, 2023 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by S. Mellar/FC Bayern via Getty Images)
FC Bayern via Getty ImagesWith Harry Kane on the brink of his $109 million transfer to Bayern Munich, rumors circulated the England marksman was having doubts.
It was reported, despite a fee finally being agreed with the German champions, he was thinking of staying with Tottenham Hotspur.
The alleged wavering prompted a debate about whether Kane should leave Spurs.
Fundamental to the case for his staying was Kane’s proximity to the Premier League’s all-time goalscoring record which he is within 47 goals of.
Averaging around 30 goals per season and still only 30 years of age, the chances are if he remains in England the tally could be bettered in less than two seasons.
Indeed it’s even been suggested that should Kane stay fit, Jimmy Greaves’s all-time national record of 357 would be in reach, although that would require five full years at the same scoring rate.
This was weighed against the brutal and oft-mentioned fact that Kane, despite having a host of personal accolades, has not a single honor to his name.
Defeated in twice in the final of the League Cup, he’s also lost the Champions League and, with England, European Championship finals.
There is little dispute that joining Germany’s most successful club would remedy that sad state of affairs. The question within the British media was whether that outweighed the honor of breaking a record held by Alan Shearer for close to two decades.
“If he does agree personal terms with Bayern and move to Germany, the strong probability is that he will win the Bundesliga. But to an extent, so what? In 20 years will it be better to be remembered as the Premier League’s all-time leading scorer, or as the second top-scorer in Premier League history who won a couple of German titles at the end of his career?” Pondered Jonathan Wilson in UK newspaper The Guardian.
“Would it matter if Kane, say, reached 300 Premier League goals but won nothing? There would be a certain purity to the achievement, particularly as it couldn’t really be argued that his goals tally is the result of a selfishness that has held his team back; Kane also has 46 assists and the most common criticism of him over his career has been that he drops too deep and should be spending more time in the opposition’s box,” he added.
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher put this trail of thought rather more succinctly on X.
“Alan Shearer’s PL goal record gets talked about a lot more than his PL [Premier League] winners medal. That record will be huge for HK,’ he wrote on the social network
Adding: “The big plus for going to Bayern is to guarantee he plays CL football & a chance to win that trophy every season. It’s not about their domestic trophies, they’ll win them anyway & I’m sure he’d rather have the PL record than the Bundesliga!”
Interestingly, Carragher, a man who let’s not forget was lambasting the Saudi Pro League for lacking ‘history and tradition,’ was willing to put a record for a competition less than three decades old above a league title in another country.
Records Are Temporary, Honours Are ForeverLONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 09: Wayne Rooney of England is presented with the Golden Boot by Sir … [+] Bobby Charlton after breaking his record of 49 goals prior to the UEFA EURO 2016 Group E qualifying match between England and Estonia at Wembley on October 9, 2015 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesSome outside the UK might wonder how this can even be a debate; why would a player even comprehend potentially sacrificing the feeling of holding an honor aloft and the thrill of being a champion?
Soccer stars get between 15-20 years in the sport if they are lucky, fewer still spend that period at the highest level of the game.
Harry Kane himself can attest to that. The reason he has not surpassed the record already is that he did not, unlike players of similar stature, break into the Tottenham Hotspur team until he was 21.
The teenage striker bounced around England’s lower leagues on loan. He scored goals but not in the quantity he would go on to do and few would have believed he would be a future target for a team challenging for the Champions League.
His achievements since have pushed those early struggles so far into the background they barely register in the collective memory anymore.
But make no mistake, the grounded persona and tireless work ethic which have propelled Kane to stardom are born from a career of being told he wasn’t good enough to make the grade.
From the age of eight, he had legendary figures like Ireland midfielder Liam Brady deciding because he was “chubby and not very athletic” Arsenal would not be signing him.
But he defied all those critics to become England’s greatest goalscorer and Tottenham’s record marksman.
His abilities are such that Kane deserves to be playing at a club like Bayern Munich, where anything less than total domination is a failure and in nearly all the big games the club is favorite.
The only thing standing against that deserved status is outdated English arrogance about the prestige of a league so lacking in history that most of its Hall of Famers could probably still play in a charity match.
Even if you are to, hypothetically, give the record the prominence Wilson and Carragher do there is the fact records are only ever temporary. Just ask Wayne Rooney who prolonged his international career to break Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record only to see it fall to Kane just five years later.
No one will remember Rooney held that record for five years, the accolade is almost meaningless.
His five Premier League titles, FA Cup and Champions League wins on the other hand cannot be dismissed. Those honours last forever and Kane knows that.