Bayern Munich's Harry Kane on his Christmas routine, Lennart Karl and being England captain
Bayern Munich forward Harry Kane says he's "in the prime" of his career as he bids for more silverware with the Bundesliga leaders this season.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Bundesliga, the 32-year-old talks about Christmas in the Kane household, the art of scoring goals, the impact of Lennart Karl on Bayern this term, and plenty more besides.
The winter break is coming up. What are your jobs around Christmas?
Kane: “To be a good dad and bring the fun. I'm always busy with football in this period and we have a lot of games, so it’s hard to really do a lot with the kids. I try to just be there and have fun, and we go away for Christmas all the time.
Watch: Bayern's Christmas celebrations
"It will be a mixture of things because I have two older girls and two younger boys, so it will be a mixture of activities for sure. Ultimately, Christmas for me is about making the kids happy and seeing the smile on their faces and spending as much time as I can with them. I’m looking forward to it.”
Do you still give your hat-trick balls to your kids? Do they count as presents?
Kane: “Not any more, no. I don’t get away with that one since I’ve been here. The kids still have them, but they're putting more pressure on me now. I brought another Bundesliga one home recently, the Stuttgart one, and my son said he wanted the one with the stars on it, so he wants a Champions League one.
"There’s more pressure on me to get different types of balls now, but they still use them and they kick them around the house. They're excited when I bring one back, but they don’t fully count as Christmas presents, so I can’t get away with that one.”
Watch: All 10 of Kane's Bundesliga hat-tricks
What is Lennart Karl like on and off the ball on the pitch? What are the things you appreciate the most about him?
Kane: “I think Lenny's been great for us. I think you see the qualities that he has, especially in tight areas. That's been a big help for us since he's been in the team because we play a lot against a low block or against a 5-4-1 system where teams drop off and make it difficult for us to get through.
"Lenny helps to open that space up because he's so quick and so good on the ball and he can beat a defender. He's similar to Jamal [Musiala] in that way, which has opened up games for us and has given him a chance to score and has given other people chances to score.
"Without the ball, he has a great work ethic. The way we train here and the way the boss is, I don’t think he would let him get away with anything else. That's great for him to be able to learn and to try to help the team, so it’s great to have him.
"He’s quite a quiet boy, which is understandable because he's only 17 and in this environment. He's learning every day and he's enjoying being part of this team and part of this group. We’ve loved having him the team because he’s made a difference in a lot of games this year.”
Watch: Karl outpacing Jamal Musiala at Bayern
Is there any piece of advice that you’ve shared with him, given all that's ahead of him and the talent he has?
Kane: “I wouldn’t say I've had that conversation yet with him, but I think he definitely learns from the experienced players in the team like myself, Joshua [Kimmich] and Manuel [Neuer].
"He's an intelligent boy who likes to watch and see how things happen. Starting so young, the biggest thing for Lenny to realise is that there are going to be moments that won’t be so good and there are going to be highs like he is having now, and it’s important not to get too caught up in the outside noise.
"He just has to keep doing what he is doing. The reason he is where he is now is because of the way he works and trains, and that’s the most important thing. It’s easy to forget the basics that got you there when you start playing every game and your name is getting spoken about a lot more than usual.
"He has a good coach in that sense, and good players around him to make sure that he stays at the level he is now and to keep trying to make him improve. He will get better as he physically develops, so from our point of view it’s just about keeping him working hard like the rest of us and he will improve for sure.”
Watch: The best of Lennart Karl
How do you think you took that step to be at that elite level? What are the things that have made you different?
Kane: “A lot of people say that scoring goals is the hardest thing in football, and I think it is. It can change games and it can make the biggest impact in a game. For me, to be considered elite you have to do it over a long period of time. When you look at the sporting greats across all sports, it’s not just two or three seasons, but five to 15 seasons where you are constantly playing at a level, no matter the situation or what team you are in.
"The proudest thing for me is that I've been able to do it over a long period of time, and I feel like I can still do it for many more years to come as well. This is my best start to a season in my career in my 12th proper professional season, so it shows that you can keep pushing the levels and keep improving year after year. I don’t get carried away with it, but I am proud of it and it motivates me to do it for as long as possible.”
It sounds like you’re aware of your numbers season after season.
Kane: “I’d say so. During the season, I don’t get too caught up in it and I try to give myself small targets of a certain amount of goals in a small block of games. I think you know yourself when you are playing well or not, and even if you are not playing well and still scoring, you know that it’s not going to last forever and you still need to improve in moments.
"Sometimes you're playing amazingly and not scoring, so you can’t get too down on it. There are highs and lows throughout any season, but this season has been consistently pretty good from a goalscoring point of view, even though there are still performances where I could've done better.
"Ultimately, it’s just about knowing where you are as a player rather than just the numbers, and that’s what I like to look at.”
Watch: All-rounder Kane's best passes
Which person in football was most influential on your career? Why?
Kane: “It’s hard to pick one person. I would probably go back to my youth team days and to John McDermott, who was the head of the academy back then and who is now working with the England team and the FA. He was amazing for my development at that age from 13 all the way up to the youth team. Without him in that role, I don’t know if I would be the player that I am now.
"As I got older, Tim Sherwood gave me my first Premier League chance and I was able to take that. He always believed in me from when he was at the reserves to when he got the main job, and he always believed I could do it at the highest level.
"That then takes me into Mauricio Pochettino, who developed me from there and turned me into a different type of player. He made me a lot stronger physically and made me understand what it's like to be a Premier League player. I’ve obviously named three there, but I can name so many.
"I look back at my whole career and there are so many people who helped me, but those are a few that had a big impact for sure.”
At what point are you in your career do you think?
Kane: “Good question. I'm 32 now and sometimes you get to an age where people just assume you are going to start slowing down and assume it’s coming to an end. But I feel like I’m in the prime of my career, and I just touched on the numbers I’m putting up and physically how I feel.
"Even if I look at the running data from this season, I'm running as much as I've ever run before, so it’s hard to say. I feel like I could play for many more years and I feel like I'm right in the prime of what I want to do, and hopefully that lasts for another few years. As we know in football, things can change pretty quickly, so we will see. Right now, I feel really good.”
So we can put the NFL vision to the side for now?
Kane: “That’s still many years away and not any time soon.”
What did you take away from the UEFA Champions League campaign last season, and how are you approaching it now?
Kane: “Even though PSG didn’t finish in the top eight [of the league phase] and they won the competition, I think not finishing in the top eight had quite a big impact on our season. We had to play a lot of games in a short period of time and the squad was down to its last numbers at the time with the injuries that we had.
"I think that played a big role, so going into this year, we really wanted to make sure that the top eight was a priority to avoid having the extra games.
"In terms of the games in general, we had a lot of good games. The Leverkusen home and away knockout games were really good and even though we lost at home to Inter Milan, I felt like we had a really dominant performance and we should have come out with a better result. We obviously then had the disappointment away in the San Siro, but we took a lot of experience from it and we've improved the way we play in certain moments.
"Looking back to the Barcelona away game, after that moment I feel like we improved a lot defensively without the ball and we've carried that into this year as well. Ultimately, the Champions League is really tough to win because you have to be at the highest level and you have to take your moments when they come. That's what we're hoping to do this year.”
You and the team are good at analysing big games that don't go your way, such as against Leverkusen and PSG. Is Arsenal next on that list?
Kane: “Whenever there's a game that you lose, it makes you analyse it that little bit more. I think if you use it in the right way, it definitely makes you improve. We'd won every game up until the Arsenal game, but we knew we were going into a tough game against one of the best teams in Europe.
"It didn’t go our way, which makes you analyse certain little things. We were in November at that time, so we knew we still had six or seven months of the season to go and that there was a good chance that we would face them in the latter stages of the Champions League, so we looked at what we could take from that.
"I think we do learn from certain games like that and we have done since the boss has been here. I think he is really key in that aspect of analysing and helping to motivate the players to have a different outcome the next time. Whether we play Arsenal again or not, we will play some of the best teams for sure and it's important that we learn from those types of games.”
The England team that you've captained has achieved things that previous generations could not. Going into the 2026 World Cup, what’s left to achieve? How would you frame it?
Kane: “I think we are at that stage now where only a win is going to satisfy us and the country. We had that a little bit in the last Euros because we got to the final and there was still a lot of negative noise around us. We knew that unless we won it, that noise was going to continue and it did, and that’s part of it.
"We've been building on the success from 2018 onwards, from the semi-final of the World Cup to the final, quarter-final, and then final. We've been knocking on the door and we've consistently been one of the best teams in the world, so there is an expectation going into this tournament.
"We're fourth in world rankings and people see us as one of the favourites, so we have to acknowledge that and take that into the tournament and be able to handle that pressure. We've had a lot of good moments in the last eight years as a national team, but ultimately, it’s about winning now. We want to win the biggest trophies and we definitely have the quality to do it, now it’s just about handling those moments.
"I'm looking forward to that challenge and whenever a major tournament comes around, it’s the peak of your career and the peak of the pressure and expectation and excitement that you feel. I'm excited to see how I and the team handle that.”
Watch: The Bundesliga's World Cup 26-bound stars
Can you just explain the significance of being England captain, and are there any points where you would allow the child in you to be like ‘I’m doing this’?
Kane: “It’s funny you should say that because my wife and I were talking last night or the night before about how we feel old now compared to some of my teammates and the some of the players around me. We were talking about Michael Olise, because he’s just turned 24 and I got the captaincy when I was 24.
"When you are in the moment, I think you sometimes don’t realise how young you are. We were also 24 when we had our first child and we realised that was really young when we look at some of our friends now who are just starting to have families.
"When you are in it, you sometimes don’t realise what you’re doing and how young you are when you’re doing it. It was always a dream to play for England, and to captain England was always the pinnacle of a career.
"I was a massive England fan growing up, more than I was a club fan, so it was always an achievement I wanted to do and I have been lucky enough to do it for a long time now. The years go quickly, but I'm just so proud every time that I wear the armband and lead the boys out. I definitely never take it for granted and I know how much it means. I’ve been lucky enough to do it for a while now.”
Having been in Germany now for two and a half years, would you say it’s changed the way you see football at all?
Kane: “I think it’s been a great experience for me. Growing up in England and playing in the Premier League, sometimes you are blinded into thinking that is all there is out there.
"I've probably been most impressed with the German fans and how loud and passionate they are in every stadium that we go to, and our fans at the home games. I've loved every minute of that because there is never a dull game with no atmosphere.
"Every game has an amazing atmosphere and it’s also been about understanding a different league and that the Premier League isn’t the only league out there, even though a lot of people think it is. I’ve loved that side of it and that’s probably been the biggest difference.”
Watch: Kane enjoying Oktoberfest with Bayern this year
With Bayern this year, it feels like everything has gone up a notch in terms of performances. Does it feel that way for you and if so, how has the team evolved?
Kane: “I think it’s been a building block from when the manager started. Because we played such good football last year and we won the league convincingly in the end, people forgot that it was still [Vincent] Kompany's first season and that there was still a lot for us to learn and get better at.
"We took that a little bit into the Club World Cup and coming into this season. Everyone just understood their roles a little bit more and everyone was hungrier and the way we pressed was better. Everything just improved, and the Supercup was a big game at the start of the season because we had a short pre-season and to be able to win that set us up well.
"We then got a big win against Leipzig in the first game of the season and this gave us a bit of momentum where we almost felt unstoppable. We wanted to just continue that and ride the wave to see where it takes us. That winning momentum is really important and we held onto that for a long period until the Arsenal game.
"We have to try to get that feeling back now but overall, the team has understood the coach’s ideas a little bit more and you are seeing that as the months go by.”
Watch: Bayern breaking records under Kompany
Your position at Bayern isn't quite as a true number nine, but you're not a false nine either. How would you describe it?
Kane: “It’s probably down to the system that we play and the way the coach likes to use his nine and ten. There have been games this year where you've seen me drop a lot deeper than usual. Even the way we play without the ball and how we drop, you might see me playing almost as a holding midfielder or as a centre-back, and this might make it seem a bit more extreme than it actually is.
Watch: Kane's hybrid role
"There is a structure to what we do, but I feel like I'm really enjoying the role and I'm enjoying the freedom of being able to get on the ball a little bit more and not just be the number nine. I wouldn’t be able to say what the role is because it is probably a new hybrid role that we are seeing, but I am loving it.
"Defensively, I feel like I can help the team a lot with tackling and blocking and clearances, and you have seen a bit of that all season. From now until the end of the season, there will be certain games where it will happen a lot and I will be dropping deep, and there will be other games where I am higher. This depends a lot on who the other attacking midfielder is as well, so we will see how that evolves from now until the end of the season.”
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