Kane's numbers mean he'll go down as an all-time great regardless of trophies

06 March 2024 , 11:20

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His team might have stuttered in the Bundelsliga but there is no stopping Harry Kane who has now scored 33 goals in 33 appearances for Bayern (Image: DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

Harry Kane says it so often that no-one can have any doubt the England captain had one overriding motivation for joining Bayern Munich. A desire to win trophies.

It is now extremely unlikely Thomas Tuchel’s side will win the Bundesliga and, despite a convincing comeback victory over Lazio that takes them into the quarter-finals, Bayern are still not highly-fancied to win the Champions League. It would be a good story for Kane to rock up at Wembley and lift the trophy on June 1 but it remains an unlikely one.

The odds are still in favour of Kane’s first season in Germany being a potless one. That will hurt … but it should not hurt too deeply because with every goal this remarkable striker scores, Kane’s legacy is becoming more and more secure.

If Kane finishes playing - and, hopefully, that is at least half a decade away - without a team trophy to his name, it will not go down as a blight on his career. It will merely be a footnote because Kane is putting up numbers and performances that will mean he will go down as one of the greatest strikers in England’s football history.

His two against Lazio in the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night mean he is the first British player to reach fifty-plus goals in European competition. Kane’s 51 puts him ten clear of Steven Gerrard and 11 ahead of Wayne Rooney.

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Kane’s goals have come from 84 appearances while Gerrard played 130 times in Europe and Rooney 106 times. Kane now has 33 goals in 33 appearances for Bayern and 41 goal involvements - in other words, 33 goals and eight assists.

Kylain Mbappe has a point to prove in his last season at Paris St Germain and now has 41 goal involvements across all club competitions .. the same as Harry Kane (Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

In 34 appearances for PSG this season, Kylian Mbappe also has 41 goal involvements - 34 goals and seven assists. Kane, Mbappe and Erling Haaland are the three striking kings of European football.

And these sort of numbers will define Kane’s career, not whether he wins a trophy or not. Sure, it is what you play the game for, it is what drives every player forward, it must be a feeling like no other.

But some players became so brilliant, we recognise them, first and foremost, for that individual brilliance. Will some people - Arsenal fans, probably - somehow find it amusing if Kane does not win a trophy with Bayern? Maybe. But if there is no trophy, Kane will remain one of THE players of his generation.

Erling Haaland has already raised the possibility of leaving Manchester City and that might mean Harry Kane could one day end up at the Etihad

And anyway, here’s a theory that would guarantee Kane a trophy or two. Pep Guardiola decides to stay at Manchester City beyond the 2024/25 season - when his current contract ends - but Haaland does not, the Norwegian deciding three years is enough in one place.

Kane will have only just turned 32 and can come back and clean up at City for a couple of years. Unlikely, of course. But even if he does not get his hands on a trophy, Kane’s legacy is secure.

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Andy Dunn