1 day ago
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Former Liverpool striker Michael Owen has reinforced his view that Harry Kane made an error in swapping the Premier League for the Bundesliga.
Kane departed Tottenham for Bayern Munich during the summer of 2023, securing his maiden domestic trophy with Bayern last season: the Bundesliga title. He recently added a second trophy to his collection by winning the German Super Cup.
Owen experienced his own spell overseas, spending a year at Real Madrid before returning to English soccer. Nevertheless, he has highlighted distinctions between his own circumstances when departing Liverpool and Kane's decision to move abroad. "Harry Kane is just lethal, he's a brilliant finisher," Owen said on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast.
"I disagreed with him going to Germany. I was outspoken about that. I still think he was nuts.
"You're on the verge of being the all-time Premier League goal scorer, you've got kids that are all in school. I mean, I just couldn't see it. I don't see it."
Owen questioned the significance of Kane's achievement in claiming the Bundesliga with a commanding Bayern outfit rather than setting records domestically.
"A great achievement would have been becoming the top scorer ever in the Premier League, that would have been unbelievable," he added.
Kane retains an opportunity to surpass Alan Shearer's all-time Premier League tally should he eventually return to the division.
His Bayern deal concludes in the summer of 2027, merely weeks before his 34th birthday. He departed Spurs having netted 213 league goals for the club - falling 47 short of Shearer's tally accumulated over 14 campaigns with Blackburn and Newcastle.
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, sitting joint-fourth with 187 strikes, remains the nearest active player to Kane in the all-time standings.
Following Kane's switch from London to Munich, two of his former Bayern colleagues have made the reverse journey.
Mathys Tel secured a permanent transfer to Spurs this summer following his loan spell in the latter half of last season, whilst Joao Palhinha is presently on loan at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the possibility of making that arrangement permanent in 2026.
"He's got great potential," Kane remarked about French striker Tel following Bayern's preseason encounter with Spurs. "Whether he's playing as a left winger or a striker, he gets into dangerous areas, he can finish the ball well, and he's good one-v-one.
"I don't want to put too much pressure on him – he's going to the Premier League, he's still extremely young although he has a lot of experience here, he still has to develop and improve, he knows that and he works hard to do that, so I just want him to go and enjoy himself, have confidence and hopefully he can shine in the Premier League."
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