Harry Kane should aim to surpass Robert Lewandowski at Bayern Munich instead of filling Polish legend's boots at Barcelona

Targeting Kane makes a lot of sense for Barca. At 32, he would cost far less than Erling Haaland, who is seven years his junior, meaning there is little risk of exacerbating the club's well-documented financial issues. Kane is also the ideal solution to one of Flick's biggest issues.

Lewandowski scored 42 goals in all competitions as Barca swept to a domestic treble in 2024-25, but he only has 13 to his name with three months of the current campaign remaining, and Flick no longer trusts him to play 90 minutes in multiple games per week. Indeed, only 17 of the once prolific Pole's 31 appearances have come as a starter, with the 37-year-old finally looking his age.

Despite successfully defending the Spanish Supercopa, getting back to the La Liga summit and reaching the latter stages of both the Champions League and Copa del Rey, Barca have not looked as imperious without Lewandowski firing on all cylinders. One trophy route will almost certainly be closed off next week, as they face a 4-0 aggregate deficit heading into the second leg of their Copa semi-final tie against Atletico Madrid, while the likes of Bayern, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain all look like stronger candidates to conquer Europe.

Winning La Liga again wouldn't be enough to mask Barca's decline. Although that's mostly down to Flick's risky high-line being breached too often, there's no doubt that Barca are no longer as clinical at the top end of the pitch. They definitely need to bring in a successor for Lewandowski - even as he reportedly tries to secure a contract extension - and Kane has already proven he can fill the towering striker's boots at Bayern.

Lewandowski scored a staggering 344 goals and provided 72 assists in 374 outings for Bayern between 2014 and 2022, winning eight Bundesliga titles and the Champions League to become a bona fide club legend. Remarkably, Kane is on track to secure the same status after just two-and-a-half seasons at Allianz Arena.

The former Tottenham star is already up to 159 goal involvements from just 132 appearances, and has ended his long-running trophy curse by getting his hands on the German top-flight's Meisterschale and Franz Beckenbauer Super Cup. Provided they avoid defeat to Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, Bayern should land back-to-back Bundesliga crowns, while they're favourites to lift their first DFB-Pokal since 2020 after reaching the last four. It would be a big surprise, too, if they didn't atleast go one better than last season's Champions League quarter-final run.

Boosted by the summer additions of Luis Diaz and Jonathan Tah, along with the emergence of teenage sensation Lennart Karl, Bayern have become an irrepressible force over the last seven months. Kompany's team is built for sustained success, and Kane is the leading man. The prospect of him bagging another 257 combined goals and assists to equal Lewandowski is not far-fetched, if he commits to a contract renewal beyond 2027. And although it's unlikely he will match the Poland international's Bundesliga haul, he could surpass him in the Champions League. 

Bayern have yet to open formal extension talks with Kane, which is why speculation over his future is raging. The prospect of a new challenge in La Liga will become more enticing the longer Kane's current employers wait to reaffirm his importance. 

He should, though, be mindful of his legacy. It would be better served by staying at Bayern and entering their history books rather than starting from scratch at Barca, and potentially being phased out in a few years, as Lewandowski is now.

As Lothar Matthaus points out, there is also no guarantee that Kane would gel quite so well with another manager after elevating his game to new heights on Kompany's watch.

"Now he’s winning title after title, which he didn’t manage to do before in England," the former Bayern defender told the Sky90 – die Fußballdebatte show. "So I see no reason why Harry Kane should leave this club or his environment. His contract will be extended. I’m sure of that. He knows what he has in his coach; he repays the trust the coach gives him. He plays in a functioning team. Who knows if he would shine elsewhere? Who knows if he could play as well elsewhere as he does here under Kompany?"

Matthaus added on the other main reason Bayern should tie Kane down to fresh terms as soon as possible: "He’s a global brand, he’s the second [David] Beckham because everyone in the world knows him. He has no haters – not in Frankfurt, not in Dortmund."

There's an argument that Kane could enhance his "global brand" by joining Barcelona, as Beckham did at Real Madrid, and then LA Galaxy in his twilight years. It's not a good enough reason to turn his back on Bayern, though. He can achieve everything he ever dreamed of in Munich, including a maiden Ballon d'Or, and that should come ahead of his profile off the pitch.

Perhaps Kane's motivation to see out the remaining years of his career at Bayern will increase if he beats Lewandowski's incredible single-season goal record in the Bundesliga (41). Kane is only 13 goals short of that magic mark with 11 games still to play, with a third successive Torjägerkanone (which translates to goal-scorer cannon)as the league's top marksman already in the bag as he sits a whopping 15 ahead of nearest challenger and team-mate Diaz.

He could then set his sights on Lewandowski's record of five consecutive mini-cannons and the overall leading mark of seven he shares with Gerd Muller. There's no question that Kane has the mindset required to keep ticking off these milestones.

"Anything is possible," he said when asked about potentially bettering Lewandowski's best Bundesliga campaign, after bringing up his 500th career goal in a 3-0 win over Werder Bremen earlier this month.

Kane gives Bayern so much more than just goals, though, which was not always true of Lewandowski. He can enjoy even greater longevity at the highest level because of his superior all-around game.

"Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski are similar in some ways. They are rarely injured and they always score goals, but I believe Kane is more of a team player – Lewandowski is sometimes a very selfish striker," ex-Bayern midfielder Mario Basler has toldGOAL. "I think he is more important for Bayern than Lewandowski was. He adds more to the team than Lewandowski ever did because he also works defensively and is more involved in the team’s build-up."

Add to that the acrimonious way Lewandowski departed the club, as he came out accusing the Bayern board of disrespect while forcing through the switch to Barca, and Kane has the chance to be remembered in a far warmer light by the Bavarian faithful. A rare bond reserved only for the most loyal stars, like Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Phillip Lahm, would be forged if he were to reject the Liga giants and spearhead another era of domestic dominance and European success at the Allianz Arena.

Basler is confident that Kane's head won't be turned: "I hope he doesn’t leave Bayern and I also believe that he knows exactly what he has at the club. Above all he is also of a certain age now, I’m not sure he’d be keen to make another change at this stage. I believe he feels very comfortable in Bayern, and I hope he stays there until he ends his career."

Kane can take another small step towards immortality at Bayern when he steps out at Signal Iduna Park on Saturday. The Bundesliga leaders will face a wounded Dortmund, still reeling from their shock Champions League capitulation against Atalanta, and the gap at the summit will widen to 11 points should BVB suffer another defeat to their Klassiker rivals, effectively ending the title race.

Lewandowski might have one eye on the game, and not just because he played for both clubs. If Kane scores two or more goals against Dortmund, he will match Lewandowski as only the second player to score multiple goals in four successive Bundesliga matches. Bayern's current No.9 has notched eight goals in nine appearances against Dortmund to date, four for Bayern and five in a Tottenham shirt, so it would be foolish to bet against him.

For sheer ruthlessness, no one in Europe's top five divisions compares to Kane this season either. He's averaging a goal every 66 minutes in the league, with his 28 efforts so far coming from just 87 shots. And when he's not scoring, the England captain is either setting goals up or running the show from deep. The Bundesliga has become his playground.

With Champions League glory also well within Kane's reach, it's extremely unlikely that links to other clubs will go anywhere. Bayern and Kompany have unlocked his full potential, and there is so much more to come.