Bayern Munich saved last season in extremis, winning the Bundesliga at the last second, the only important title they added to their showcases. After a decade of absolute dominance, the hegemony of the Bavarians in Germany faltered coinciding with the first year without Robert Lewandowski in the team, without the 43 goals that the Pole averaged in his eight seasons, the last with a total of 50.
Chastened by the lack of a weighty offensive reference, the Teutonic giant has rectified its course in this market by taking out the checkbook. After a titanic struggle with Tottenham and its stubborn president, Daniel Levy, the German champion announced on Saturday the hiring of Harry Kane (30 years old) until 2027, the most expensive signing in its history with an amount of 100 million euros . Bayern take over the all-time top scorer for Spurs (280) and the English team (58) to make them forget Lewandowski, the club's second all-time top scorer with 344 goals.
Once the spoon was handed over in the negotiation with Barça last summer, Lewandowski was transferred for 45 million, Bayern opted in the 2022-23 season for a change in strategy for their attack. He distributed the scoring responsibility among other players and added to that collective effort Sadio Mané, signed for 32 million. The transfer of the Senegalese to Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago confirmed the failed plan of the Munich leaders. Serge Gnabry was the most outstanding scorer the previous year with 17 goals, far from the figures of the Warsaw striker.
“Now we will really play without a nine in the traditional sense. We have several men who understand the association game when they go down to the second line of attack”, said the then sports director, Hasan Salihamidžić, who was fired along with the general manager, Oliver Kahn, an hour after the agonizing victory in the last one a year ago. League day in Cologne. Lewandowski's long shadow also claimed its victims in the offices.
In principle, the arrival of Kane, a scorer who has been top scorer three times in the Premier, will cause Thomas Tuchel to recover the usual model in the German team, almost always with a striker who fixes the rival center-backs, a finisher who feeds the recurring aerial game and by the wings of Bayern. In addition, just like Lewandowski did, the Englishman has enough fundamentals to leave the area and continue the play.
“I am very excited, very happy to be here. It is one of the best clubs in the world. I have always said that I wanted to improve in my career, aspire to be one of the best. It is the right step to test myself at the highest level", explained to the club media Kane, who did not win any title in his more than ten years with Tottenham and neither with England despite recently playing in the Champions League final (2019). and the final of the Eurocup of selections (2021). Although he made his debut with a defeat against RB Leipzig in the German Super Cup (0-3), the Briton will have the opportunity at Bayern to match his record with the quality that the entire football world presupposes, but his success will pass, above all, for leaving behind the melancholic memory of Lewandowski among Bavarian fans.
