Former Tottenham striker Harry Kane moved to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023, aiming to end his trophy drought. Despite scoring 44 goals for Bayern, he finished his debut season without any major team silverware and also experienced defeat with England in the Euro 2024 final.
Many have dubbed this the ‘Kane Curse,’ as the 30-year-old’s impressive goal tally has not translated into collective success. While Kane won the European Golden Shoe and shared the Golden Boot at the European Championship, he still lacks major team trophies.
Former England international Danny Mills, speaking with GOAL in association with 888poker, emphasized the pressure on Kane to secure a long-awaited trophy: “He’s going to get tortured isn’t he! He could end up as one of the greatest players we have ever seen never to win a trophy. He’s playing for Bayern Munich, it’s highly likely that they will win something next season. He will be absolutely desperate. I don’t think anybody would have wanted it more, to win the Euros, than him. I’m pretty sure that he will finish his career with one, maybe more than one trophy in the cabinet.”
Kane’s contribution at Euro 2024 was questioned despite scoring three goals and setting a new record for England with 66 goals in total. Mills dismissed any thoughts of international retirement for Kane: “Definitely not. I think heading into the tournament, maybe there was a bit of match sharpness missing from the back end of last season. But he’s a goalscorer. Often you give the goalscorer a chance because, in big games especially, if you get that chance then he puts it in the back of the net. You could argue that Ollie Watkins is also a goalscorer and looked sharper against the Netherlands and scored. Brilliant. He had a chance against Spain, and misses. Had another chance against Spain and doesn’t quite hit the target. The argument would be, had those chances fallen to Harry Kane in those situations, would he have scored? Would he have been more likely to score? Possibly. Harry scored 30-plus goals last season for Bayern Munich. Maybe he was lacking a bit of match sharpness, it didn’t quite happen for him. But we have to start looking for who is going to replace Harry Kane, because we don’t know how or where he is going to be in two years’ time. We can’t rely on him forever, so there has to be a back-up plan for him.”
Kane is two caps away from reaching 100 for England and is unlikely to retire from international football soon. He has expressed a desire to emulate Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo by playing into his late 30s and beyond, aiming to contribute significantly to both club and country.