Michael Owen takes aim at Harry Kane for 'nuts' career decision - 'I don't see it'

Former England striker Michael Owen has doubled down on his belief that Harry Kane was wrong to trade the Premier League for the Bundesliga. Kane left Tottenham Hotspur for Bayern Munich in the summer of 2023, winning the first domestic title of his career with Bayern last season.

Owen had a stint abroad himself, spending a year with Real Madrid before returning to the English football. However, he has pointed to differences between his own situation when he left Liverpool to Kane's when he made the move abroad.

"Harry Kane is just lethal, he's a brilliant finisher," Owen said on the podcast. "I disagreed with him going to Germany. I was outspoken about that. I still think he was nuts.

"You're on the verge of being the all-time Premier League goal scorer, you've got kids that are all in school. I mean, I just couldn't see it. I don't see it.

Owen questioned how great an achievement it was for Kane to win the Bundesliga with a dominant Bayern side instead of breaking records at home. "A great achievement would have been becoming the top scorer ever in the Premier League, that would have been unbelievable," he added.

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Kane would still have a chance to pass Alan Shearer's all-time Premier League record if he ends up returning to the competiton. His Bayern contract expires in the summer of 2027, just a few weeks before his 34th birthday.

He left Spurs after scoring 213 league goals for the club - 47 shy of the total Shearer posted across 14 seasons with Blackburn and Newcastle. Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, joint-fourth with 187 goals, is the closest active player to Kane on the all-time rankings.

Since Kane traded London for Munich, two of his former Bayern team-mates have moved in the opposite direction. Mathys Tel completed a permanent move to Spurs this summer after spending the second half of last season there on loan, while Joao Palhinha is currently on loan at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and could make that move permanent in 2026.

"He’s got great potential," Kane said of French forward Tel after Bayern's match against Spurs in pre-season. "Whether he’s playing as a left winger or a striker, he gets into dangerous areas, he can finish the ball well, and he’s good one-v-one.

"I don’t want to put too much pressure on him – he’s going to the Premier League, he’s still extremely young although he has a lot of experience here, he still has to develop and improve, he knows that and he works hard to do that, so I just want him to go and enjoy himself, have confidence and hopefully he can shine in the Premier League."

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