'Dead money' - Barcelona & Real Madrid warned off Harry Kane transfer as Michael Owen claims Bayern Munich striker 'gave away his aces too cheaply'

Having grown tired of waiting on tangible success in north London, Kane stepped out of his comfort zone in pursuit of major honours. His silverware duck was finally broken in 2024-25 when becoming a Bundesliga title winner.

It is now being suggested that, at 32 years of age, Kane could take on another challenge in 2026. A return to England has been mooted, with Alan Shearer’s all-time goal record still up for grabs there, while La Liga heavyweights at Camp Nou and Santiago Bernabeu have been credited with interest.

Quizzed on what the immediate future should hold for Kane, ex-Real Madrid and England frontman Owen - speaking via Casino.org, where he is UK ambassador, which helps players find the best casino online options in Britain - told GOAL: “Oh, wow. You only have one shot at it. The thing is, you can have all these best-laid plans in your career, in your life - it’s who needs you, who wants you, it’s got to be perfect timing. It’s all these different things at once - it’s your age, it’s all these things.

“If you asked Harry Kane eight years ago ‘do you think you’ll end up at Bayern Munich?’ He would probably have said no. Maybe a Manchester United, maybe a Manchester City, maybe even a Real Madrid or a Barcelona, but I wouldn’t think Bayern Munich would have been in his top half-a-dozen teams that he would have envisaged playing at.

“However, Manchester United were really struggling at the time, so do you want to go to a club that are looking like they aren’t going to win much? I don’t know if they had the money as well. Manchester City had already just bought [Erling] Haaland. [Kylian] Mbappe was signing for Real Madrid, at a certain point again when he could have left. [robert] Lewandowski at Barcelona. It needs to be a perfect storm.

“The problem with Harry Kane now, he’s still an incredible player, but it really is dead money if you go and buy Harry Kane. You are buying for the here and now and how many years are you going to get? One, two, three, four? I don’t know. He is obviously showing no sign of ageing. Who knows.”

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Owen - who has 150 Premier League goals to his name from spells with Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester United and Stoke - added on Kane bidding farewell to English football in order to break his trophy curse: “I was very vocal about it at the time, I would love to have seen him stay in the Premier League - do another year at Tottenham and if you really want to go, he would have been on a Bosman. I felt like he had the full set of aces in his hand and gave them away quite cheaply. I said so at the time.

“He has gone and won a league and scored a load of goals, broken a lot of records, but I think that would have held a lot more weight in the Premier League - he would be really close to Alan Shearer’s record now. But that’s hindsight.

“The funny thing is, in the last tournament [Euro 2024], half the England fans were saying he should be benched and looking old. Now we are back to thinking if he gets injured then we are knackered. It just shows, a bit like [Mohamed] Salah and all these things, football is so fickle and changes in the blink of an eye.”

Kane has stated his happiness at Bayern on a regular basis and is tied to a contract through to the summer of 2027. It could be that he agrees fresh terms there, rather than embrace another fresh start, with his current employers understandably reluctant to part with a proven No.9 that has registered 115 goals through 121 appearances for the club.