Talk of a Harry Kane curse is nonsense! The England striker was right to quit Tottenham for Bayern Munich

Michael Owen certainly thinks Kane has jumped ship too soon. The Ballon d'Or winner believes the all-round attacker should have seen out the final year of his Spurs contract before joining Barcelona, Real Madrid or whomever he wanted on a free transfer next summer.

"I don't agree with his move from Spurs to Bayern," Owen told DAZN Bet. "If he was so desperate to leave and to win trophies, then he could easily have stayed for another season and then had the world in his hands by going on a Bosman transfer.

"That way, if Spurs miraculously started playing well and looking like title challengers, he could have always [extended his contract], but, regardless, he would have had his destiny in his hands and gone to any club he wanted, all while he was getting closer to that Premier League goalscoring record and creating the perfect legacy with the club he's been at all his life.

"Bayern are undoubtedly one of the biggest clubs in the world but for me to win a trophy, I don't think there's anything really special about going and guaranteeing yourself a Bundesliga trophy. Bayern will win the league with or without Kane, so I don't think that was particularly a reason to leave."

Owen's perspective should obviously be respected, given he knows a thing or two about leaving a boyhood club for one of Europe's elite. He was painfully torn over swapping Liverpool for Real Madrid in the summer of 2004.

"I didn't sleep for a week beforehand," he previously told GOAL. "And even on the drive to the airport, I was crying my eyes out, I don't mind telling you."

But Owen's view of the Kane transfer is understandably coloured by the negative outcome of his Madrid move. He scored goals in La Liga - 13, to be precise - but he realised long before the end of his one and only season in Spain that he was never going to be a first-choice during the dying embers of Florentino Perez's ultimately disappointing Galactico era. So, keen to avoid jeopardising his place in England's starting line-up ahead of the 2006 World Cup, Owen pushed for a return to the Premier League.

His goal was to rejoin Liverpool, who had just won the Champions League without him, much to the delight of some bitter Reds supporters who were still furious with the forward for leaving. But he instead ended up at Newcastle, and then Manchester United, as the second half of a once-glittering career was derailed by one incessant injury issues.

However, as Owen said himself to GOAL, "You never can plan your career perfectly. You think you're going to be a Liverpool player for life but then you think, 'Oh my God, it's Real Madrid, I'll regret this forever if I say no.'

"So, while I didn't get the chance to spend the rest of my career at Liverpool, I had an incredible experience in Madrid."

It's slightly curious, then, that Owen has come out so vehemently against Kane's Bayern switch, given his compatriot is demonstrating the same level of ambition. Furthermore, all of the early signs are that it is a transfer that will work out far better than Owen's short spell at the Santiago Bernabeu.

For starters, Kane represented a hugely significant signing for Bayern. He wasn't merely an expendable element of a vanity project. He was their top transfer target, the belated Robert Lewandowski replacement, the complete No.9 they needed to sign at all costs to turn Thomas Tuchel's team into legitimate Champions League challengers.

And that's precisely why a club renowned for its relatively prudent approach to the transfer market committed to a nine-figure fee (including bonuses) for a 30-year-old with less than 12 months left on his contract. Bayern, as Lothar Matthaus pointed out, had probably slightly overpaid in the circumstances but he, like the club, presumed that the gamble "will pay off".

Kane is certainly proving value for money so far, with 12 goals in his first nine Bundesliga outings, including two hat-tricks - and a strike from the halfway line that even David Beckham felt compelled to comment upon.

Kane's also netted in two of his three Champions League appearances, though, with his crucial strike in last month's win at Galatasaray prompting Tuchel to come up with a rather novel and amusing way to hail his striker's ludicrously composed finishing.

"Harry has beer calm," the former Chelsea boss told Amazon Prime Video. "If you have scored 4,800 goals in your career, then you just have less [of a] pulse! He has a very natural self-confidence and knows that he doesn't need many chances."

Indeed, Leon Goretzka says that Kane is a humble, "wonderful guy", the England captain has an "aura" about him that inspires confidence in everyone around him. "You notice it immediately in the dressing room," the midfielder said. "He helps us so much. He's a leader."

Leroy Sane is clearly loving linking up with Kane, with the former Manchester City winger enjoying the best season of his Bayern career to date, while the promising young striker Mathys Tel is already benefiting enormously from learning from one of the best finishers of the modern era.

"He's a role model for me," the teenager recently told the Bundesliga's official website. "It's important to have people to learn from technically and in terms of finishing, and, often I don't even have to ask him. He just comes over to me and tells me: 'Mathys, you can do that, or that'.

"He pays close attention to the little details and he's looking to help me in any way he can. He's supporting me a great deal."

Interestingly, when asked what he admired most about Kane, Tel responded, "His mentality. He is very strong mentally. He's very calm."

It's certainly been hugely impressive to see the way in which Kane has coped not only with the sense of expectancy that inevitably comes with such a lofty transfer fee at an elite club, but also the change in league, club, culture and language - particularly when one considers that he's still living in a hotel while he tries to find a house in Munich for his wife and kids, who are still in England.

Consequently, it's easy to understand why Tuchel believes that there is even more to come from Kane, once he is fully settled, on and off the field. "Harry has made a super start and will get even better the longer he trains with us and once his family arrives too," the German told UEFA. "When he feels at home here, we'll see his full potential.

"He has a massive influence. He is the first one on the training pitch and has a certain relaxed attitude. He has a certain personality, he loves training. And if you are such a great player, everything that you do has an impact.

"Everything that you do in the dressing room is observed: how you come across, how open you are, when you go out onto the pitch, how you train. With him everything is exemplary, so it's just so good to have him here."

Such a professional approach is hardly surprising, of course. Kane's dedication to his craft has long been obvious to those that have followed his career. However, it's also clear that he needed this challenge; that it has the potential to take his already wonderfully well-balanced game to a whole other level.

Without wanting to insult Spurs, he has already publicly admitted that he is enjoying the "different" pressure that comes with playing for a side like Bayern, where nothing less than victory is acceptable. At 30 years of age, he felt it was only by playing in such a demanding environment could he really improve.

Leaving Tottenham was obviously hard. He was, as he said to the fans, "one of your own" and he never got a chance to say a proper goodbye to his former team-mates. He still finds it "strange" watching Spurs play on TV and he wouldn't be human if he didn't wonder if Tottenham might have an even better chance of winning an unlikely league title with him up front.

But let's face it: nobody could have foreseen 'Ange-ball' making such an instantaneous impact in England, while there are still no guarantees that Tottenham will finish in the top four, let alone stay at the summit.

Kane firmly believes himself capable of continuing at the highest level well into his 30s but he knew the time had come for him to move on. He's openly admitted that he was "jealous" of watching his England team-mates playing in the Champions League year in, year out, while he was sat at home. He knew that he deserved to be doing likewise but the sad reality of the situation at Spurs was that they couldn't guarantee him regular European football. Bayern could.

There is no guarantee of silverware at the Allianz Arena, of course. Not even a Bundesliga title is a given this season, with second-placed Bayern trailing Xavi Alonso's brilliant Bayer Leverkusen team going into Saturday's Klassiker against fourth-placed Borussia Dortmund.

But what Kane wanted was a chance to both improve and challenge for the game's most prestigious prizes. Owen may disagree with his choice of club but just like the former Liverpool man, Kane knew that if he didn't move, he'd regret it for the rest of his life.

"I have always said I never want to retire and feel like I could have done more," he said back in August. "That was a big part of the decision-making process to come to Bayern. You want to make sure you've pushed yourself to your limits."

Kane is doing precisely that in Munich, making what's happening in north London right now utterly irrelevant. He's not cursed, then. If anything he's been belatedly blessed - with a stage befitting his incredible talent.

When he talks now about winning the Ballon d'Or and the Champions League, they no longer sound like pipe dreams but realistic goals for one of the finest forwards of his generation. Quitting Tottenham may have been a tough decision for the homegrown hero - but it was definitely the right one.