Why Harry Kane is perfect for Bayern Munich

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The Harry Kane saga has been the longest-standing sagas of all transfer happenings over the past few seasons. This week, it might finally come to an end with Bayern Munich putting down a bid that Tottenham would be crazy to turn down. It might be a hefty, club record-breaking fee, but Harry Kane perfectly fits the way that Thomas Tuchel wants to play. With that, here is what Kane will bring to Bayern, and why the club were so persistent in securing his signature.

BAYERN’S FALSE 9 TACTICS

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Thomas Tuchel has often been a proponent of the ‘False 9’, preferring interchange within his front-line. It’s part of the reason why his team were so dominant in his first season at Chelsea, where the interchange between Havertz, Werner and Mount led to many positive moments for the Blues.

After the departure of Robert Lewandowski, Bayern Munich initially relied on the powerful running and space seeking of Sadio Mané. It worked well in those early days, but required slight adaptations to the way the Bavarian giants wanted to play. You see, as teams play with the lowest of blocks possible against the possession-heavy Bayern, space in behind becomes hard to come by.

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Mané’s movement inside the penalty area and his dynamism on attacking transitions still came to life, but Bayern missed that back-to-goal link-up-play. They also missed the natural ‘Target’-esque qualities of a more imposing striker inside the box – someone who naturally captivates the attention of two or three defenders at once and allows others to be freed up instead.

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Enter Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting, a 34-year-old striker who provides those link-up qualities and the imposing physicality. Choupo-Moting performed well, even scoring 0.8 non-penalty goals per 90.

But for his excellence as a back-up to throw on the pitch and make matters more difficult for the opposition, you don’t want Choupo-Moting leading the line every week. He simply lacks the quality in the other areas of the game (such as long-passing, keeping the ball under pressure, etc.), and doesn’t excel to the same extent on any of those ‘Target’-esque features as the greatest forwards in the game.

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So when Thomas Tuchel entered the fold at Bayern Munich, he quickly reinstated a ‘False 9’ approach to the club. Serge Gnabry emerged as his favourite choice up front, with the dynamic dribbling of Kingsley Coman complimenting the more direct energy of Leroy Sané on the other side. In unlocking opposition defenses, Bayern wanted to utilize the quality of movement from players like Musiala and Müller in central areas, where they and Sané could run in behind as Gnabry connected the dots.

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The tactics never fully worked. Gnabry lacks the imposing frame to then make his presence felt in the box, and he’s always better running at defenses rather than playing with his back-to-goal. In comparison to someone like Müller, he also lacked the awareness of where to move inside the penalty area to the benefit of his teammates, which made him a less than ideal option in the ‘#9’ role.

It’s been well established that Bayern can’t continue without a focal point up front. They can’t adjust their tactics another season and put players in unnatural roles that don’t suit their strengths. Simultaneously, they can’t rely on Choupo-Moting to lead the line all season.

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This is why Bayern made it their mission to sign Harry Kane this summer. Essentially, he’s the best ‘False 9’ in the game. Partially because he plays his ‘#9’ role more like a ‘#10’. But then he somehow turns that passing precision into finding the back of the net at record-breaking levels, where he always pops up in exactly the right area to score.

He’s great at seeking space at the back-post as defenders watch the ball, and often ghosts into the penalty area unmarked to score. This is the Robert Lewandowski-esque quality that Bayern were so desperately missing last season. They generated a ton of chances every single match. But they often lacked the cutting-edge movement inside the box to even play the right pass at the killer moment.

Now with Harry Kane in their rotation, they not only have the precision and timing of movement into the penalty area from their ‘#9’, but also have greater ability to carve open those low-blocks.

HARRY KANE’S CREATIVITY

For teams like Bayern Munich and even Tottenham to an extent, one of the main quests of training is to develop schemes around how to break down a low-block. I’ve often spoken about how positional rotation is essential to doing exactly that, as it pulls the defensive unit out of their normal positions (especially if a man-marking approach is employed).

The benefit of having your centre-forward as the one to often lead those rotations is that it either pulls defenders with that player, or allows the striker to get more space and time on the ball to create something from deeper.

This is not something that all ‘#9’s’ have the quality to pull off. Choupo-Moting, Gnabry or even Mané have vastly different talents than to pull off these types of passes.

So while Joshua Kimmich will always be their ‘Deep-Lying-Playmaker’, Harry Kane will provide another option for Die Roten out from the back in releasing pressure. He’s fantastic at switching play, playing passes over the top, and playing under-pressure. He can play the basic backwards passes as a defender comes with him to the ball. But he can also turn into the space available and drop down the hammer.

Imagine that quality now being backed up by the speed and dynamism of Alphonso Davies down the left, rather than Ben Davies down the left. It’s a different story. And that story continues into the final third, where opposition sides are often at their most difficult to break down. Kane’s ability to quickly switch the play and change the point of attack will be essential for Bayern.

The 30-year-old centre-forward is fantastic at disguising his passes, which will also be critical to breaking down low-blocks. As opposition teams prepare for him to switch the play, he might just carve them open with a through-pass into space instead.

This level of creativity could partially compete with Thomas Müller’s excellence in space-seeking and generating chances. But it should suit Jamal Musiala‘s precision on the ball and speedy running into space. The same goes for the running power of Gnabry and Sané, not to mention the phenomenal crossing of Kingsley Coman. Harry Kane should thrive with all the movement around him, as he plays the foil and rarely actually steps into that natural ‘#9’ role.

It’s just that awareness of how to create even half a yard of space to receive the ball in space and then play a killer pass forward that adds a different dimension.

Given that this is the way that Thomas Tuchel naturally seems to want to play anyway, it looks like a match made in heaven to then have the best ‘False 9’ in the world on his side. With Kim Min-Jae and Raphael Guerreiro also entering the frame, Bayern Munich are truly building something special again under Thomas Tuchel, and should be set to retain their dominance, and make more of a run at the UEFA Champions League this season. It might be expensive for a 30-year-old, but this is a phenomenal signing from Bayern, and one that will immediately improve Thomas Tuchel’s side.

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