Harry Kane is enjoying a record-breaking start to life at Bayern Munich but, as was the case at Tottenham, his goals may not be sufficient to secure silverware.
At Tottenham, Harry Kane grew accustomed to his astonishing personal achievements not being enough to win titles.
Without winning a single trophy, he became Spurs’ all-time leading goalscorer (280 goals) and moved into second place in the Premier League’s top scorers list behind Alan Shearer (213).
Kane also became the first player ever to score 30+ goals in two separate 38-game Premier League seasons, and the second of them came in 2022-23, when Spurs finished way down in eighth.
Even at international level, Kane’s goalscoring has so far brought no reward. He is the highest goalscorer in England’s history (62 goals), and only has a Euro 2020 runners-up medal to show for it.
After his move to Bayern Munich last summer, things were meant to be different. This was supposed to be the move that guaranteed him silverware. But despite once again performing in front of goal, it’s not looking good for Kane.
His sole goal in Bayern’s 5-2 demolition of Darmstadt at the weekend took the Englishman to 31 Bundesliga goals for the season.
It meant he broke Uwe Seeler’s record of 30 goals from 1963-64 for the most goals scored in a debut Bundesliga season.
The week before, Kane had hit a hat-trick against Mainz to smash Seeler’s record for the fewest games needed to reach 30 goals in Germany’s top flight.
Seeler had required 30 games to reach the landmark, and Kane made it to 30 in just 25 matches. Erling Haaland – the third-fastest to 30 Bundesliga goals – had needed 32 games for his first 30, by the way.
That treble was Kane’s fourth this season, meaning he needs two more to equal Gerd Müller’s record for the most hat-tricks scored in a Bundesliga season. Müller hit six in 1971-72.
Kane also has a chance of chasing down Müller’s record for scoring 2+ goals in the most Bundesliga games in a season, with the German doing so in 12 matches in that same campaign. Kane is currently on eight.
The Englishman could also equal the record for scoring against the most different opponents in a Bundesliga season. He has already scored against 14 teams, just two off the record of 16, which six different players have managed, including Robert Lewandowski in 2020-21. Kane will need to score against Union Berlin and Eintracht Frankfurt in order to tie this record.
Speaking of records that Kane is chasing and Lewandowski’s 2020-21 campaign, Kane still has a slim chance of hunting down the Pole’s Bundesliga record for the most goals scored in a single season. The now-Barcelona striker hit a whopping 41 goals as Bayern won the title in 2020-21.
Kane’s bad luck, however, is such that Bayern won the league that season with a relatively meagre 78 points. This season, leaders Bayer Leverkusen are on 70 points with eight games to go.
Leverkusen have won their last seven games in a row and are unbeaten for the entire season – in all competitions, remarkably – so there is likely very little chance that 78 points would be enough for Bayern to win the title this time around.
Kane may therefore once again have to focus on personal achievements. He still needs 10 more goals to equal the record of 41 goals in a season, but if he is to break Müller’s records for the number of games in which he scores 2+ or 3+ goals, he could yet challenge Lewandowski’s numbers.
Ten points off Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga and out of the DFB-Pokal having lost to third-tier Saarbrücken back in November – with Kane rested – it may be that the Champions League represents Kane’s best chance of silverware this season.
A tough quarter-final draw against Arsenal made it less likely that they’ll win it – according to the Opta supercomputer, at least – but they have the quality to challenge the best in Europe, and Kane’s goalscoring will always give them a chance. The team will have to have an incredible end to the campaign if they are to win Europe’s biggest prize this summer.
Kane’s achievements this season are already historic but he is staring down the barrel of ending another record-breaking campaign empty-handed.
It will be just his luck if he doesn’t end his long wait for a major trophy with Bayern Munich in 2023-24.
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