During an appearance on Sport1’s Doppelpass, former Bayern Munich former sporting director Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidžić revealed inside details on how the acquisition of Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur came to be.
Interestingly, Bayern Munich knew as early as October or November of 2021 that Robert Lewandowski was going to leave the club. Lewandowski, of course, left for FC Barcelona in the summer of 2022.
“When it became clear that (Robert) Lewandowski was leaving – that was back in October, November
2021 – we held talks and had to think about who could be next,” said Salihamidžić. “Then we tried to make contact, and that dragged on until the end of the season. But Tottenham closed the door pretty quickly back then and didn’t want to talk about it at all.
“It had to be him, because he truly possesses qualities that hardly anyone else has. When you look at who else could have been brought in. (Kylian) Mbappé was completely out of the question financially. (Erling) Haaland was also a possibility. Of course, we made sure it had to be a top striker.
“At FC Bayern, you need someone who wins games, whether that was Giovane Élber back then, Lewandowski, or now of course Kane. But you have to proceed very carefully because it costs a few euros. For us, it was still clear that he was the number one candidate.”
The hiring of Thomas Tuchel and the dramatic flame out of Sadio Mané made it clear that Kane would need to be prioritized.
“We got a new coach in March: Thomas Tuchel. About four weeks later, sometime in April, we sat down and were clearly in agreement that Kane would be our number one transfer target. That same week, we went to London and met the family. He really has a great family; his father and brother are very nice, and we had some good conversations. Then the guys (Salihamidžić’s eventual successors after he was sacked) followed up on it. Of course, it wasn’t easy to get Harry Kane away from London, but FC Bayern had the power and they made it happen,” Salihamidžić stated.
All-in-all, Salihamidžić think the Kane move has been a massive success.
“As soon as he has a clear shot, it’s usually a goal. He’s simply dangerous. There’s no striker in Europe who’s currently in such good form, or rather, who has been playing at such a consistently high level for years like him. That’s why he’s absolutely a Ballon d’Or candidate,” Salihamidžić remarked.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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