Could Harry Kane return to Tottenham Hotspur?

The England captain moved to Bayern München in what was the marquee move of the season

Harry Kane has had a historic stint in the Premier League. Barring a 13-game loan stint to Leicester City, he has been a one-club man. The prolific striker, who has been a part of Tottenham’s youth set-up since 2004 and broke into the first team in 2009, has gone on to become Talismanic for the London club.

He holds the record for the most number of goals scored by a Tottenham player in history, with more than 100 goals separating him and second-placed Heung-Min Son. He stands in second place on the list of most number of league goals scored since the Premier League era began in 1992. Kane’s goal tally in the Premier League stands at 213, with only 47 goals separating him and top-placed Alan Shearer. He was expected to replace Shearer before he moved to Bayern München. He is the only active player in the top 10 list of Premier League all-time goal scorers.

Harry Kane has solidified his status as a legendary figure in Tottenham’s history books and is one of the Premier League's most storied figures. However, as his contract was about to enter its last year, speculation began that Kane might leave London to go elsewhere. For one reason. – To stock up his silverware cabinet. Kane has no silverware to show for the time he has spent with the Spurs. 

Tottenham Hotspur have repeatedly failed to clinch silverware, whether it be a domestic title, or European glory. It is inconceivable that a player of Kane’s quality and the numbers he has behind him has no silverware to back his skills up. With Tottenham not looking apt to fulfil Kane’s trophy ambitions anytime soon, it was almost decided that Tottenham Hotspur’s talisman would be leaving them.

Once it was sure that he would be leaving, the England captain was increasingly being linked to a host of clubs, including Manchester United, and Real Madrid. However, the club he was most heavily linked with was Bayern München, which eventually ended up being his destination.

The German Champions suited Harry Kane perfectly. Bayern have been on the lookout for a world-class striker since Robert Lewandowski moved to Barcelona, to whom Kane looks to be a like-to-like replacement. On the other hand, Bayern can fulfil Kane’s trophy aspirations. Bayern are favourites to win the Bundesliga, being the title holders since 2010. Bayern also entered the Champions Leagues as favourites, giving Kane attempts at European glory.

Bayern München have been in talks with Kane since the start of the 2022-2023 season. Although Kane seemed hesitant to come to Germany at first, the end of the season saw Kane looking forward to the move. Now, the next step of the deal involved convincing Tottenham and their chairman Levy to sell Kane.

At first, Tottenham Hotspur were hesitant to let him go. Chairman Levy even lamented the situation, calling Kane “unsellable”. Tottenham attempted to get Harry Kane to sign a contract extension, which included doubling his wage. However, once they were convinced that Kane would not be signing an extension no matter what, they were ready to listen to bids from Bayern.

Tottenham Hotspur listened to four bids from Bayern for Harry Kane, at the end of which they accepted a bid exceeding £100m, and which reportedly exceeds £120m after add-ons. Making him the most expensive player in Bayern München history. And like that, Tottenham’s face over the last decade was set to leave.

However, it is not safe to say that it is the end of the Kane-Tottenham partnership. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, while on a fan’s forum revealed that Kane’s Bayern contract has a buy-back clause. He further added. –

“We have buy back clause for Harry Kane”. “I’d like to thank Harry for everything he's done for us”. “He’s always welcome back — Harry’s a much loved and valued member of the Spurs family and forever in our history”

In a goodbye video he made for Tottenham fans; he did not rule out a return to London. He said –

"It's not a goodbye as you never know how things pan out in the future," he said. "It [this farewell message] is a thank you and I will see you soon."

Indicating that he is open to the idea of a comeback in the future.

The buy-back clause is not the only way Kane can return to Tottenham. He can come back after his contract at Bayern runs out. However, the probability of that happening is less as Bayern would either pen a new deal with him or attempt to sell him before his contract runs out to avoid losing him on a free transfer.

If he does indeed come back to Spurs, he will join a list of notable names who made a comeback to their former clubs after a stint elsewhere. Some of these names include. – Gareth Bale, who came back to Tottenham after his career-defining stint at Real Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo came back to Manchester United after historic stints at Real Madrid and Juventus. And Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who came back to AC Milan after playing for a host of clubs.

However, this issue is not expected to come up for at least the duration of Harry Kane’s Bayern contract, which is four years. The next four years will be bringing attention towards Kane’s stay in Germany.