Harry Kane may be enduring a dry spell by his own high standards but that won’t stop Bayern Munich’s fans singing his name.
The England skipper has scored just two goals in his last eight Bundesliga fixtures for the league leaders, winning just four of those matches.
Despite being held to a 2-2 draw by Borussia Dortmund at the weekend where Kane failed to find the net, Bayern are still six points clear at the top of the table with 31-year-old Kane on track to win a first club trophy of his career.
The frustration, however, is that their recent inconsistent form has left some questioning whether Bayern could yet bottle the chance to win a title that had seemed almost inevitable.
That draw with Dortmund was preceded by a 2-1 defeat to Inter Milan in the Champions League – another match where Kane failed to find the net, leaving their hopes of European progression hanging in the balance.
Kane’s relative drought has come at the worst-possible time, but speaking on the Trans Euro Express, European football journalist Andy Brassell said the striker still has money in the bank with supporters.
“It’s funny with Harry Kane because the pressure has largely been off him despite those two scoreless games,” he said.
“It’s not just that he hasn’t scored in those games, it’s been the manner of those scoreless games because he missed a load of chances and very good chances against Inter.
“In the second one they could have almost certainly put the league away because Bayer Leverkusen drew earlier in the weekend against Dortmund.
“It was a very entertaining game, it ended 2-2 and he had some very good chances including a guilt-edged one that you’d bet your house on him scoring at 2-2 that would have won the game and put Bayern eight points clear with five games left but he didn’t take it.
“That’s the unusual thing about Harry Kane, everybody in Germany has loved him since he arrived and why not? He’s been impeccable on and off the pitch, scored a tonne of goals and he’s been exemplary in every single way.
“But you expect your best player or your best goalscorer to score the big chances in the big games and he’s not done that in the two big games in the last week.
“There are two reasons why he’s not been massively criticised for that. It was interesting the way it was framed in one newspaper after he missed those big chances against Inter. On the Wednesday morning the message was that ‘Kane doesn’t have any fortune’ and ‘Kane doesn’t have any luck’ which I don’t think is how it would have been framed if it had happened here.
“The other thing is that whatever Kane has been doing or not doing has been overshadowed by the Thomas Muller story this week because it was announced that he was leaving Bayern and then he came on and scored the goal that got them level and that should have got them a draw.
“Then Muller started in Der Klassiker (Dortmund vs Bayern) and we spoke about how important Muller was in Kane adapting to the German game both on the pitch and off the pitch.
“He made sure that Kane got the respect and had his voice heard and built the path for Kane to succeed in that way at Bayern and he played brilliantly against Dortmund even if it wasn’t enough for them to win the game.”
Kane will be hoping that his second season in Germany can end on a real high.
Despite scoring a staggering 44 goals in 45 matches, the 2023/24 campaign ended with no silverware after Bayern were beaten to the title by Xabi Alonso‘s Bayer Leverkusen.
Losing in the DFL-Supercup, Bayern were then beaten in the DFL-Pokal after losing to third-tier side FC Saarbrucken.
While they managed to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, Kane and co. were beaten by eventual winners Real Madrid in the semi-final stage.
This season, Bayern will be hoping to secure a big result in Italy as they look to pip Inter to a spot in the semi-finals of the competition.
Having already been eliminated from the DFB-Pokal by Bayer Leverkusen in the last-16, it’s the last chance to win a cup competition during the regular season.
Bayern are, however, firmly on track to win the Bundesliga with a six-point lead at the top of the table with five matches remaining.
It would represent the first major trophy of Kane’s career to date, having failed to win any silverware with Tottenham Hotspur or England.
They will also have a chance to win big this summer as they prepare to compete in the Club World Cup in the USA.
Despite his lack of team trophies, Kane has won a plethora of individual awards, including the Premier League’s Golden Boot three times and even picked up the same top scoring award at the 2018 World Cup.
Since joining Bayern he has was the Champions League’s top scorer in 2023/24, as well as winning goal of the season and being named in the Bundesliga’s team of the season.
But that won’t stop him from vying for team trophies.
Speaking to France Football, the 31-year-old said: “It’s true that, so far, I won individual accomplishments as a top scorer or best player.
“I start every season with the goal to win a trophy and I am not satisfied with being distinguished only on an individual level.”
He added: “I’m only 31. I think the best Harry Kane is yet to come.
“I’m very confident about this, and very confident that the second part of my career, the one which is now beginning, will be rich in major trophies.
“When I hang up my boots, it will no longer be a topic.”
Next up for Bayern in their crunch Champions League tie with Inter and while the German side have work to do to overcome the 2-1 deficit, you can guarantee that Kane will be desperate to end his drought one way or another this term.
Listen to the Trans Euro Express on talkSPORT every Sunday night from 9pm featuring European football journalist Andy Brassell
