Harry Kane is 33. Under Bayern Munich’s long-standing policy on senior players, that number should mean one-year renewals, nothing more. It won’t.
The England striker was crowned 2026 Ballon d’Or winner at the London Palladium on October 27, becoming the first English player to lift the award since Michael Owen in 2001. Two days later, reporting on his looming extension at the Allianz Arena made clear Bayern are prepared to abandon the rule that Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery were held to at the end of their careers.
Rummenigge: “There are exceptions”
The quietest version of the admission came weeks before the ceremony. Honorary president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge spelled it out in a late-September interview with German paper Abendzeitung, saying Bayern were ready to make Kane the exception.
“In the past, I would have said: for players over 30, you should generally only hand out one-year contracts. But there are exceptions when you are convinced by a player. And we are with Harry.”
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Rummenigge’s justification was not sentimental. He pointed to Kane’s availability, with the striker having had only one meaningful absence in three seasons in Germany, and contrasted that with the single-year renewals offered to Robben and Ribery.
A 73-goal year, settled on money, still open on the clause
Kane’s current deal runs out in the summer of 2027. German reporting puts the proposed extension at three years, through the summer of 2029, with the forward on around €25m gross a year. Journalist Raphael Honigstein has reported that Bayern initially put a two-year extension on the table, with Kane pushing for a third year and additional flexibility.
The sticking points are not the salary. Image rights, personality rights and a possible release clause remain under discussion.
In the voting on October 27, Kane finished ahead of Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal after a season in which he scored 73 goals for club and country.
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“Thank you to Ballon d’Or and France Football. An incredible year for me last year, something I am extremely proud of,” Kane said on stage, as reported in Bundesliga.com’s live coverage of the ceremony.
What’s left to sign
Kane himself has said in recent weeks that talks are nearing a conclusion, with image rights and a possible release clause the final pieces to be settled.
An extension running to the summer of 2029 would see him turn 36 a month after his new contract expires.
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