Harry Kane says people have the wrong idea about one part of his game – and two stats prove him right.
Harry Kane says there’s a bit of a mix-up about how often he drops back during games, especially with talks going around about him possibly winning the 2026 Ballon d’Or. He’s one of the 30 players nominated for this big award, with France Football sharing the list on Tuesday.
Last season, Kane, now 31, scored an impressive 61 goals for Bayern Munich. Even so, he feels people don’t fully get what he does when he’s not right in front of the goal.
In a chat with TNT Sports’ Owen Hargreaves, Kane explained, “Sometimes people think I drop too far back or stay too far from the goal. That can be true if you’re not ready to make a run into the box. But as a No. 9, you often get closely marked by defenders or have to wait for the ball. You usually face two center-backs, and sometimes they keep you out of the game. Staying higher up might seem like you’re helping by giving space to attacking midfielders, but actually, you might just get marked out.”
Some might say Kane’s teammates, like Luis Diaz, Jamal Musiala, and Michael Olise, let him drop deeper and control the game more. And the stats back this up. Kane’s goal numbers say a lot—61 last season, 41 the year before, and 44 his first season at Bayern.
Looking at his heat maps from 2024/25 and early 2025/26 shows a clear change. In 2024/25, he mostly stayed near the penalty area, but last summer he started dropping deeper more often to influence the game.
Kane told FourFourTwo in August that Bayern’s coach, Vincent Kompany, who joined in summer 2024, encouraged him to drop back sometimes. He said, “The coach lets me come deeper to get the ball and then run into the box later. With the teammates I have and the team setup, it’s taken my game to the next level. I feel really comfortable on the pitch and know where I should be and where my teammates will be.”