Kane’s Record-breaking Bayern Start put into Perspective

It’s fair to say that Harry Kane’s record-breaking start to life at Bayern Munich has been seriously impressive.

Kane’s transfer to the Bundesliga was the biggest story of the Summer 2023 transfer window and it was a saga that ran throughout it. A 100 million Euro transfer fee for a 30-year-old player may have seemed expensive, but this has proven to be worth every penny for the Bavarians.

The Englishman’s goalscoring record this season has been nothing short of sensational and there are definitely parallels that can be drawn between Kane in Germany and Erling Haaland’s start at Manchester City last season.

We’re going to delve into the numbers and put into perspective just how good Kane has been and where he and his team can end up by the end of the season.

Kane’s Record-breaking Bayern Start put into Perspective

After the departure of Robert Lewandowski at the end of the 2021-22 season, Bayern have been looking for an elite-level striker. The lack of a true focal point almost cost FC Hollywood last season, as they were lucky to retain their Bundesliga crown.

Quarter-final exits in both the UEFA Champions League and DFB Pokal meant the German top division title was the only major silverware that Bayern won last campaign. That quarter-final exit in Europe also illustrated how far FCB were off Man City in terms of quality.

Bayern want to be the top dogs in Europe again, so it only makes sense for the German giants to try everything to sign Kane. Kane is not only a great goalscorer, but he also has fantastic link-up play in his locker to set up his teammates.

He’s the complete forward in every sense of the word and was dragging a poor Tottenham Hotspur side to be in contention to win trophies. Of course, they famously failed to win any, but without Kane Spurs would’ve been firmly in the Premier League’s midfield melee.

Record-breaking goalscorer

On the surface, 18 goals in 12 games is seriously impressive by anybody’s standards. Before Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi raised the bar for greatness in football, a goal every other game was considered a very good strike rate for a forward. Even by their standards though, a goal per game is considered successful.

1.5 goals per game is ridiculous, though. Kane’s hat-trick against Bochum in September already saw him break a Bundesliga record, as he became the first player to score six goals in five matches at the start of their career in the German top flight.

If Kane continues this rate of scoring, he’ll have 51 goals by the end of the 34-game Bundesliga season. It’s doubtful he’ll manage that, especially as fatigue and injuries set into the squad as the Spring comes, but having almost 20 goals in the league before December really sets Kane up for at minimum a 35-40 goal season.

For comparison, Gerd Muller’s greatest ever season saw him score 40, with Lewandowski’s best record standing at 41. That’s all before we even mention the Champions League either, where he’s already struck four times to help Bayern to win all their opening five matches.

Muller’s best ever record after 12 matches is also 17 goals, one shy of Kane, so the Englishman is well on course to set an all-time record in his first season in red.

How impressive is this?

There are some football “fans” out there that claim to believe that the Bundesliga is a “farmer’s league”, an opinion that I shouldn’t have to explain how ridiculous that is.

In the Champions League Group Stage this season, for example, Borussia Dortmund have done the double over Newcastle United and Bayern will probably do the double over Manchester United as well. the Bundesliga is also ranked fourth in UEFA’s competition coefficient ranking and was third last season.

RB Leipzig have also given Man City games in both of their fixtures too, in what were far from foregone conclusions. It is not a poor league by anybody’s standards but Kane is proving to be lethal up top for the champions.

Kane scored 30 goals last season for Tottenham as they finished a dismal eighth, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he’s hit the ground running so well in Munich. He’s now able to sit further up the pitch and feed off the support from the likes of Leroy Sane, Kingsley Coman and Thomas Muller.

Kane’s also had an excellent year for the England National team, with nine goals in as many appearances for the Three Lions in 2023.

And where is Euro 2024 being held? Germany. It’s fair to say that Kane will be very accustomed to scoring at these stadiums when Summer 2024 rolls around.

There’s no doubt that the Hurricane will keep raging in Germany and there’s a real chance that he could help his new side to a league and Champions League double this campaign.