CaughtOffside columnist Neil Jones has admitted he thought Harry Kane would end up at Manchester United or Manchester City a few years ago.
Writing in this week’s column, the Liverpool FC writer weighed in on the Kane situation as he seems to edge closer to a transfer from Tottenham to Bayern Munich.
The England international has had a great career in the Premier League in terms of his own individual stats, but Jones admits it’s surely time for him to try a new challenge, even if it’s perhaps not the one everyone expected.
Kane is not too far off from breaking Alan Shearer’s Premier League scoring record, but the 30-year-old might never get the chance now to overtake the Newcastle United legend as he seems to be moving closer to a switch abroad.
Still, Jones says no one can blame Kane for looking to leave Spurs to join a club where he’s more likely to win major trophies.
“It looks like the Harry Kane to Bayern Munich transfer is progressing, and it’s clear that their gain will be the Premier League’s loss. It’s a very difficult situation – if you’d have asked me a few years ago I probably would’ve expected Kane to have left Tottenham by now. And if you’d asked me to predict where he’d go, I probably would’ve said Manchester United or Manchester City,” Jones said.
“But you look at those clubs now and City have got Erling Haaland, United have just invested big money in Rasmus Hojlund, while Kane is on the wrong side of 30 and has allowed too many years of his career to be lost. The fact that Bayern Munich now look the best option for him is probably not what he expected, so it’s probably a case of making do with a change in circumstances.
“Still, I don’t think you can argue with Kane’s desire to leave Tottenham. He had the chance two years ago to go to Manchester City, you look at the levels he’s continued to produce for an inconsistent side since then, he doesn’t have anything left to give to Tottenham. He deserves to be able to think about himself a bit.
“For Bayern, they’ll be signing him to try to win the Champions League – there’s no need to sign him to win them the Bundesliga title, they’re already the favourites for that and won it last season even when they were below their best after Robert Lewandowski’s departure and without star signing Sadio Mane producing his best form.
“The Bundesliga is almost a given for Bayern, so the question is can Kane fire them to the Champions League? I think it’s a good challenge for someone like him – he’s short of trophies, that’s what’s eluded him despite the personal accolades.
“There’s the big question hanging over this all and that’s the Premier League scoring record, which is well within reach. Still, I think if you ever listen to Alan Shearer, he’ll talk about the record and be very proud of it, but I think I’ve heard him say he’d swap every single one of those goals for a trophy with Newcastle. I wouldn’t like to think of Kane coming to the end of his career with the Premier League scoring record but feeling the same way – like he’s got nothing to show for it.”