Harry Kane hits back at Dietmar Hamann’s goalscoring criticism

Harry Kane has hit back at former Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Germany midfielder Dietmar Hamann’s comments which suggested the England captain was not scoring enough goals in big games.

Kane has scored 64 goals and contributed 21 assists in 62 appearances for Bayern since signing for Bundesliga giants Tottenham in 2023. He was presented with Torjäger cannon award after scoring 36 goals in his debut season in the German league in 2023-24.

This season, Kane’s 20 goals in 17 games have been boosted by hat-tricks against Holsten Kiel and Stuttgart as well as a four-goal haul against Dinamo Zagreb. Although he scored in Bayern’s 4–1 defeat to Barcelona, ​​Kane failed to find the back of the net in games against Bayer Leverkusen, Aston Villa, Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt.

Hamann had said in October that Kane “was not brought in to score a hat-trick against Darmstadt.”

Kane has so far failed to win a major trophy in his senior professional career, with his arrival in Germany coinciding with Bayern’s first failed title bid since 2012, when Leverkusen topped the Bundesliga.

The 31-year-old, who is Spurs’ and England’s all-time record goalscorer, became the fastest player to reach 50 Bundesliga goals, surpassing the previous record holder. Erling Haalandwith a hat-trick in Bayern’s 3-0 win Augsburg on Friday.

“Yeah, it might be a little out of context,” Kane told a news conference Monday. “I think if you look at my goals last season against some of the bigger teams: Dortmund away, Stuttgart – all those kinds of games… Yeah, maybe it’s taken a bit out of context, but look, I’m trying to score in every game I try to help the team in every game This week is obviously a really big week and we know that.

“As a striker in the team and goalscorer in the team, I definitely want to help the team by scoring goals, but as always I always feel that my performances are more than just goals, both with and without the ball. So if we get three wins, and If I don’t score, I’ll be happy and the coach will be happy, so that’s the most important thing.”

Kane answered a question about one Sky Germany column written after Bayern’s Champions League defeat to Villa on 2 October, in which Hamann said he is still unconvinced of Kane’s prowess on the biggest stages.

“Harry Kane had a personally sober night in Birmingham – apart from the defeat,” wrote Hamann.

“I said after the EC this summer that he still has to prove that he is worth the 100 million – even though he scored over 30 goals last year.

“He wasn’t brought in to score a hat-trick against Darmstadt. He was brought in to score against Leverkusen and Aston Villa and to score in the Champions League quarter-finals.

“He hasn’t done that yet. I remain skeptical of the star striker.”

Bayern host Paris Saint-Germain at the Allianz Arena in their Champions League fifth leg match on Tuesday.