Thomas Tuchel has never lost a match of football to Tottenham Hotspur in his managerial career, but he’ll have been very well familiar with Harry Kane, against whom he managed several matches across all competitions during his tenure as Chelsea boss.
His spell at Stamford Bridge came to an abrupt end after a run of poor results last fall, capped by a Champions League loss to Dinamo Zagreb. His return to the Bundesliga by virtue of getting the nod to be the Bayern manager stated off rather turbulent, but he as able to come away with the Bundesliga title and a summer transfer window where the club has been able to strengthen a considerable amount.
Kane, of course, was the marquee signing of the summer for Bayern and he’s already gotten off to a decent start for the Rekordmeister, having already tallied four goals and an assist from his first five Bundesliga matches. The only match he failed to score in was Bayern’s 2-1 win at Borussia Monchengladbach, if the DFL-Supercup loss to RB Leipzig is being excluded from that count.
For a change of club, change of manager, and most of all, a change of attacking systems, Kane has adapted to life at Bayern and the Bundesliga quite well, all things considered. He’s very much used to being able to produce without too many touches on the ball and dropping deeper to create open spaces fur runners to get in behind and attack, as he so often did with Son Heung-Min at Tottenham.
By all accounts, his already grown an understanding of what Tuchel wants despite already saying himself that there’s still things he needs to work on in terms of adapting to Bayern’s attack. He’s quite fond of the former Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund and Mainz boss. “He’s a really good guy and has great ideas about how we want to play. Our relationship is good and I think it will continue to develop over time as we get to know each other better. He is one of the top coaches in the world and pushes me – and all the other players – to improve,” Kane recently described of Tuchel (via @iMiaSanMia).
Tuchel had made it very clear to Bayern’s board that he wanted to bring in a striker during the summer transfer window, and he was able to get his number one target in Kane. Despite missing out on a defensive midfielder, Tuchel now has more of the tools as his disposal that he wants for him to be better judged as to how he’s handling life as Bayern manager overall, though the margin for error is certainly razor thin.
