BERLIN (Reuters) – Bayern Munich’s record signing Harry Kane will adapt to German football in no time and will score the goals the Bundesliga champions need from him this season, the club’s former striker and ex-Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann said on Friday.
Bayern signed the England captain for a Bundesliga record 100 million euros ($108.70 million) from Tottenham Hotspur on a four-year deal to dramatically improve their scoring rate after struggling for a season when Robert Lewandowski left last year.
“I see his role very similar to the Lewandowski role,” said Klinsmann, who played for Spurs in the 1990s.
“When Robert went from Borussia Dortmund to Bayern he fit in right away. Harry is a player who is much involved in the link-up, he likes to drop a bit back as well. He will definitely score his goals.”
The 30-year-old Kane, who scored a Tottenham record 280 goals in over 430 appearances in all competitions, is also the second-highest Premier League scorer of all time with 213 goals – 47 behind Alan Shearer.
With 58 goals for his country in 84 games, Kane is England’s all-time leading marksman. But he has so far failed to win a trophy with club or country.
“I think the way Bayern play is similar to how Spurs played in the past few seasons,” the 59-year-old Klinsmann, who now manages South Korea, said in a media call.
“I think he fill fit straight in. He won’t need a lot of time to adapt. If he gets his opportunities, he is so clinical in finishing them off. He is a very complete centre forward.”
With Kane in their starting linuep, champions Bayern open the new Bundesliga season later on Friday at Werder Bremen.
The Bavarians managed to make it 11 league titles in a row after retaining the Bundesliga crown last season courtesy of Borussia Dortmund’s slip-up on the final matchday.
But they kicked off their domestic campaign last week with a 3-0 home loss to RB Leipzig in the German Super Cup.
Bayern have also signed South Korea’s Kim Min-jae from Napoli for 50 million euros to boost their backline and again become a force to be reckoned with in Europe, Klinsmann said.
“Bayern saw that the moment is now to make a bigger splash in the transfer market,” he said. “They are not shying away from strengthening their squad at international level.
“With these transfers they are saying, ‘We are ready to go for the Champions League title’.”
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(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ken Ferris)
