The complaint has followed Kane throughout his time in Germany. Bayern’s number nine keeps roaming into midfield, playing forward passes rather than lurking between the two centre-backs, and a section of the audience wants a more traditional penalty-box striker. In an exclusive interview with Owen Hargreaves for TNT Sports, Kane pushed back.

“There’s a misconception sometimes of: ‘You’re dropping deep or you’re too far away from the goal,'” Kane said.

“And yeah, that has an element of truth if you’re not willing to then arrive into the box.”

His argument is that a striker glued to the last line is the easiest player on the pitch to shut out.

Read also: Clippers' $197m All-Star could be next out the door

“But when you play as a No. 9, sometimes it’s so easy for you to get man-marked out of the game or you’re waiting for everyone to find you.”

“And sometimes the higher you stay, the easier it is for [the defenders]. You think you’re staying out the way of the team, giving space for the No. 10s to play, but actually, you’re being marked out of the game.”

The forward pass to Diaz and Olise

Kane’s dropping deep is not aimless. He described a specific pattern from last season in which he collected possession almost as a defensive midfielder and released Bayern’s wide runners.

“The amount of times last season where I was able to get it in a deeper area, almost in a No. 6 position, and a lot of the time I’d like to play a forward pass to Lucho [Luis Diaz] or Michael [Olise],” Kane said.

Read also: Man United's biggest ever sleeve deal

Luis Diaz joined Bayern from Liverpool at the end of July 2025 on a deal to 2029, arriving as the third-most expensive signing in the club’s history and giving Bayern an additional runner on the shoulder for exactly the type of ball Kane is describing.

Kane’s tactical case ends with a claim that flips the usual reading of his position.

“I actually get more chances arriving from deep than when I just stand in the box.”

73 goals to back up the argument

The numbers are on his side. Kane finished the 2025/26 campaign with 73 goals and eight assists in 65 games for club and country, split 61 for Bayern and 12 for England, the second-best scoring season by any player this century, behind only Lionel Messi’s 82 goals in 69 matches for Barcelona and Argentina in 2011/12.

Read also: Giroud, weeks from his 40th birthday, in line to lead Lille against Pellegrini's Real Betis

That form has installed Kane as the favourite for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, with France Football due to reveal its 30-player men’s shortlist on Tuesday.

Speaking in the same TNT Sports interview, Kane said he was “extremely proud of the season I put up, for sure”.

“So 73 goals, even for me, I am pretty amazed by that.”

The Ballon d’Or ceremony is scheduled for Monday, 26 October in London, the first time the British capital has hosted the ceremony, marking the trophy’s 70th anniversary.

Read also: Lothar Matthaus: These are the top 5 Champions League teams

Read also: “Trump is dead”: False rumor surfaces before his major golf showcase