Harry Kane might be in the form of his life for Bayern Munich but according to Dietmar Hamann, his current role in the team is ‘unacceptable’.
Kane, 32, has scored an astonishing 31 goals in 27 games in all competitions this season, with Bayern streaking away in their Bundesliga title defence.
The Englishman is not simply lingering around the box and has been credited both for his creative output and defensive work rate in Vincent Kompany’s side.
But it is the latter point that Hamman takes exception to, suggesting it will lead Kane to suffer from fatigue at the business end of the season when the club need him to be firing on all cylinders.
In his Sky Sports Germany column, the former Liverpool midfielder wrote: ‘I don’t know if Kompany is happy that Harry Kane is no longer playing exclusively as a striker.
‘It’s commendable that Kane sacrifices himself for the team, but as a coach, I want my striker where he’s effective and scores goals.
Harry Kane (right) is doing too much defensive work for Bayern Munich, says Dietmar Hamann
Hamman is concerned that Kane’s season will drop off again in terms of output
‘In the long run – even though he’s currently doing very well in all areas – it’s not acceptable to me that Kane is winning balls in his own penalty area, because that’s not his job at all.’
He went on to back up his point with an interesting fact, saying: ‘At the moment he rarely gets into scoring positions, it was the same before Christmas.
‘In the past two seasons he scored significantly fewer goals in the second half of the season.’
Two seasons ago, Kane scored 10 goals in the second half of the Bundesliga campaign out of a total of 26.
And last term he netted 14 of his 36 goals in the second half of the season, again showing his performances have carried more threat up until December.
Bayern are expected to be among the sides gunning for Champions League glory and Kane has not registered a goal in his last three games against PSG, Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon.
Hamman went on: ‘The question will be whether Bayern can develop the necessary attacking power in the Champions League that they will need against better teams. I’m curious to see what the future holds for Kane.’
There is evidence to suggest Kane is less effective in the second half of the season
Bayern are 11 points clear of Borussia Dortmund at the summit of the Bundesliga and second to Arsenal in the Champions League group stage.
Kane has double the number of Bundesliga goals as the player in second place in the race for the golden boot (Deniz Undav).
He’ll look to extend his lead and add to his tally when Bayern face a tricky trip to play RB Leipzig this weekend.
