Take a look at the list of European Golden Shoe winners and you’ll see some of the greatest strikers in football history, from legends of the past whose mention would make your grandfather cry to the greats of today.
Kane won the Golden Boot this season after scoring a sensational 36 Bundesliga goals for Bayern, eight more than his nearest rival Serou Guirassy and nine more in the league than Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland. He went into the European Championships as the continent’s top scorer and could become the tournament’s best striker.
But there is one thing that continues to haunt Kane: his failure to win a single trophy during his career.
Kane has long been lauded in England for his performances at Tottenham, but has never received the same recognition in Europe. But that all changed dramatically with the move to Bayern. Despite the difficulties of leaving the club he had played for his entire life and moving abroad, facing cultural and language barriers, he has exceeded all expectations, breaking all sorts of records.
The forward scored on his Bundesliga debut and provided an assist in his first four minutes on the pitch. After scoring a hat-trick in a 7-0 win over Bochum in September, he scored seven goals in his first five games to make Bayern’s best-ever start to a season, surpassing Miroslav Klose, Mario Mandzukic and the legendary Gerd Muller. After 10 games, he has scored 15 Bundesliga goals, breaking Klaus Matischak’s previous record, which had stood for 60 years.
After 11 games, Kane had scored more goals than the Bundesliga’s top scorers from the previous season, Christopher Nkunku and Niklas Fullkrug. And with back-to-back hat-tricks against Darmstadt and Borussia Dortmund, as well as a brace against Stuttgart, he became the fastest player to score 20 Bundesliga goals in a season, breaking another 60-year-old record, this time held by Uwe Seeler.
Kane overtook Erling Haaland with 30 goals after 25 games, with the Norwegian needing 32 games to reach the milestone at Borussia Dortmund. He finished with the fourth-highest single-season tally in Bundesliga history, behind only Müller’s 38 and 40 goals in the 1969/70 and 1970/71 seasons respectively, and Robert Lewandowski’s record of 41 goals in 2020/21.
He now also holds the record for the best debut season in Bundesliga history. But he never won any trophies; Bayer won the Bundesliga and the Cup.
Kane still hasn’t won a single trophy in his career, despite being one of the best strikers in the world. And while his lack of trophies can be forgiven at Tottenham, the most shameful thing is that he hasn’t won anything at Bayern.
The Bavarians have not missed a chance to win a trophy since 2012, when Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund were at their peak and won the league title. Since then, they have won 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles, as well as five German Cups and two Champions Leagues.
The fact that Bayern have failed to win a single tournament since signing the England captain has led to predictable rumours that they are afflicted with the Kane curse.
Kane and Bayern’s fortunes this season have been remarkable. He completed his €95m move from Tottenham and signed for Bayern on the same day they faced RB Leipzig in the German Super Cup, a competition the club had won six of their previous seven times. But from the bench, Kane watched his team lose 0-2 and then concede a third goal as he came on.
Stranger things happened when Bayern faced Saarbrücken in the German Cup. Kane was part of the team that went to visit a third division club. Bayern lost 1-2 and conceded the decisive goal in the 96th minute.
Meanwhile, Bayern’s 11-year dominance in the Bundesliga came to a decisive end as Bayer enjoyed an incredible season and went unbeaten in the league. Xabi Alonso’s side finished the season with a sensational 90 points, 18 more than Bayern, who eventually finished third – behind Stuttgart – for the first time since 2012.
However, the biggest disappointment was Bayern’s elimination from the Champions League in the semi-finals, as they led 1-0 in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu and held on until the 88th minute, when Real pulled off another comeback and replaced Joselu scored twice in four minutes.
But the idea that Kane is responsible for Bayern’s failures is absurd. He couldn’t prevent Real Madrid’s comeback as he was replaced by Tuchel when his team were leading 1-0, played just 27 minutes against Leipzig in the Super Cup and didn’t play at all against Saarbrücken.
Nor can he be blamed for Bayern missing out on the league title. With 36 goals and eight assists, he certainly did his part.
Kane’s failure to win a trophy was also used against him during his time at Tottenham, despite being the main reason Tottenham reached the Champions League five times, reaching the final in 2019. He left the team as their all-time leading goalscorer, taking them to a new level.
With England, Kane reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup (winning the Golden Boot), and was a few penalties away from winning the last European Championship. He also reached the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Individually, no player in Europe has had a better season than Kane. Let that be a reminder to those who use his trophy drought as a counter-argument to his quality. England are now one step away from the title, with a real chance of winning the tournament for the first time in 58 years and finally ending Harry Kane’s long quest for the trophy.
Vyacheslav Gorbachev/Athletistic
Source: Sport
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
