Harry Kane has swapped his lederhosen for his England tracksuit but he expects to wear the traditional Bavarian garb again. The England captain got dressed up this weekend, as Bayern Munich’s players have to do, for Oktoberfest.
It is unlikely to be his last. After this season, Kane has one year left on the deal he signed when he joined in 2023. It contains a release clause that goes down by the window, but getting Kane out of Germany is not as simple as that. Nor, indeed, is relying on signing him on a free transfer when his contract expires in 2027.
While Thomas Frank had hinted at the possibility of a return to Tottenham, saying their record scorer would be “more than welcome”, Kane is increasingly open to extending his stay with Bayern. Their sporting director Max Eberl has suggested Bayern will try to tie Kane down. If it long felt probable Kane would return to England, perhaps to break Alan Shearer’s record of 260 Premier League goals, now he is less sure.
“Right now, I am fully all in with Bayern,” said the 32-year-old. “I have still got this season and another season. It is not like I am in my last year, it is not like there is any panic in that sense. In terms of staying there longer I could definitely see that. I am extremely happy there, my wife and kids are happy to stay and as you get older that is a big part of any decision you make. I have not had those conversations with Bayern yet but if they were to arise I would be willing to talk. If there is going to be an extension it has to work for everyone and it has to have a clear vision on where we see the club.
“In terms of the Premier League, I don’t know. If you had asked me when I first left to go to Bayern, I would have said for sure I would come back. Now I have been there a couple of years I would say probably say that has gone down a little bit; not so much, but I wouldn’t say I would never go back.”
That shift in his thinking is not definitive but it is indicative. Kane is in no rush to decide but cuts a contented figure. He praises his manager, Vincent Kompany, repeatedly. Bayern have allowed him to realise an ambition as well as to end a rather simplistic criticism. “I think I was interested in how I would feel after winning a trophy,” said the Bundesliga winner.
Then there are the goals: more than a century for Bayern, 18 this season already. It is his best start to a campaign. “Especially early in my career, I didn’t score in August for seven or eight years,” Kane reflected. Once again, he has remedied his record.
Meanwhile, he sat out the Premier League’s great striking summer spending spree. Nick Woltemade, who Bayern seemed to see as his long-term replacement, instead joined Newcastle. They have an added reason to stick with Kane.
And a model of self-improvement believes he has added more to his game with Bayern. “Am I a better player?” Kane mused. “I’d say yes. Just the feeling I have on the pitch. I feel like the team we have this season is the strongest I’ve ever had. The way I’m seeing the game is at the highest level I’ve ever had.”
He is not slowing down, he insists. “My numbers are 11km a game, a lot of high-speed running,” he explained. Other statistics are still more impressive. He has 74 goals for England, one short of 400 in his club career. Maybe that is why, when Kane studies his performances, he arrows in on other things, on his contributions to the team.
“Sometimes when I’m watching the games back, I’m more looking forward to watching tackles or one of my defensive actions than watching my goals,” he said. “That is who I am as a person. I feel like I can play anywhere through the middle of the pitch and be comfortable. I don’t know if that means I’m getting a little bit bored of my goals or like the tackling part as well but it’s something that has been enjoyable.”
In one respect, of course, Kane is not bored of scoring: not when his appetite for goals is such that he already has two hat-tricks and five braces this season. Maybe it puts him in competition with Erling Haaland, another who could reach the 20-goal mark that many would consider a success for an entire season in the first half of October.
“Sometimes even subconsciously, maybe you’re pushing each other to reach different levels,” he said.
For a long time, Kane’s silverware came from his scoring feats, with World Cup and Premier League Golden Boots. He would like another individual accolade. “Obviously I would love to win the Ballon d’Or,” said the man who came 13th in the 2025 voting. To do that, as he recognises, probably entails winning the World Cup or the Champions League. And Bayern could provide his best chance of the latter. It might offer another reason to carry on donning his lederhosen.
