Owen: Kane is Incredibly Good, but Signing Him Now Would Be a Sunk Cost

January 9 – In a recent interview with GOAL, Michael Owen shared his thoughts on Bayern Munich star Harry Kane.

When asked about Kane's immediate future, Owen said: "Wow, that's a tough one. In life and in a career, you only get one opportunity. It comes down to who needs you, who wants you, and the timing has to be perfect. It's a combination of factors – your age, the circumstances, everything has to align."

"If you'd asked Kane eight years ago, 'Do you think you'll end up at Bayern Munich?' he would probably have said no. He might have considered Manchester United, Manchester City, maybe Real Madrid or Barcelona, but I doubt Bayern would have been in his top six clubs he imagined playing for."

"But the situation at the time was: United were in turmoil – would you want to join a side that looked nowhere near winning the league? And I'm not sure they had the funds. City had just signed Haaland; Mbappé was also close to joining Madrid around the same window Kane might have moved; Barcelona still had Lewandowski. A transfer requires that perfect storm of opportunity."

"The problem for Kane now is that while he remains an incredibly good player, signing him at this stage would be a sunk cost. You're buying the 'now' Kane, but for how many more years? One, two, three, four? Nobody knows. Obviously, there are no signs of decline at all right now, but the future is uncertain."

Owen also commented on Kane's decision to leave the Premier League to break his trophy drought: "I said it clearly at the time – I really wanted Kane to stay in the Premier League, play one more year at Tottenham, and if he still wanted to leave, he could move on a free under the Bosman ruling. I always felt Kane held a strong hand but undersold himself – that's what I said back then."

"He did go to Bayern, won the league, scored loads of goals, broke records. But I think those achievements would have carried more weight if he'd done it in the Premier League – he might have been closing in on Alan Shearer's goal record by now. But that's all hindsight."

"It's interesting – at Euro 2024, half of England fans were saying Kane was past it, too old, and should be benched. Now everyone feels if Kane gets injured, England are finished. That just shows how brutal and fickle football can be – just like with Salah's situation – everything can change in an instant."

Source: Goal.com