Kane dreams of ending of silverware wait at Wembley

MUNICH, Germany — Harry Kane said on Sunday his desire to end a personal quest for silverware was behind the decision to join German giant Bayern Munich from Tottenham Hotspur.

Kane left Spurs in a deal worth an initial 100 million euros ($110 million) on Saturday after spending his whole career with his boyhood club.

The 30-year-old leaves as Tottenham's record scorer with 280 goals and is also England's all-time top scorer at international level.

However, he is yet to win a single trophy for club or country.

Tottenham's eighth-placed finish in the Premier League last season meant Kane was also facing a season without European soccer had he stayed in north London.

"I think I've always said in my career I've wanted to keep improving, keep pushing myself to know my limits and see how far that can take me," said Kane at a news conference at Bayern's Allianz Arena.

"Ultimately I wanted to be playing at the highest level, I wanted to be playing in the Champions League, I wanted to be fighting for titles every year.

"So to come to Bayern Munich, one of the biggest clubs in the world, goes with that opportunity so I'm looking forward to that challenge."

Bayern has won the Bundesliga for the past 11 years.

But it was seeking a world-class striker to compete once more for Champions League glory.

And Kane is eyeing a dream return to England for next season's Champions League final at Wembley.

"Joining this club was to try and win the Champions League," added Kane.

"The prospect of trying to win it at Wembley would be amazing for me personally of course, I'm not going to lie. So we'll have to see how the season goes first and hopefully we can manage to achieve that."

Previous attempts at trying to lure him away from Tottenham had been rebuffed by the club's chairman, Daniel Levy, who is a notoriously tough negotiator in transfer deals.

However, Levy's hand was weakened by the fact that Kane had only one year left on his contract, meaning he could have left next year on a free transfer.

"This is kind of my first real transfer that I've been involved in, so yeah it was an up and down experience for sure," said Kane on the weeks of negotiations between the clubs.

"But I'm happy to be here now. I said yesterday and on my social media posting I wish Tottenham all the best, I wish Daniel Levy all the best but my focus is here now and trying to help this team."

Kane's Bayern career got off to an inauspicious start as he was a second-half substitute in a 3-0 German Super Cup defeat to RB Leipzig on Saturday.

He is expected to make his first start when the Bundesliga season begins on Friday as Bayern travels to Werder Bremen.

Abuse condemned

Bayern, meanwhile, has strongly condemned "inhumane" racist abuse on social media of 18-year-old French striker Mathys Tel after Saturday's loss to Leipzig.

"Whoever writes such disgustingly racist things is not an FC Bayern fan. Mathys, we have your back and you have our full support," the club said on Sunday on social platform X, formerly known as Twitter, after losing to the German Cup winner.

Tel missed several chances for the Bundesliga champion and was replaced by England striker Kane.

Bayern's title rival Borussia Dortmund started its season with a 6-1 win over fourth-tier Schott Mainz in the first round of the German Cup.

Sebastien Haller scored twice for Dortmund and midfielder Marcel Sabitzer netted a goal on his debut after signing from Bayern.

AFP