England Captain Kane Signs for Bayern, Bids Farewell to Spurs

England captain Harry Kane has signed a four-year contract with Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich, ending an almost 20-year career at Tottenham Hotspur, the club he first joined as an 11-year-old.

(Bloomberg) — England captain Harry Kane has signed a four-year contract with Bundesliga champion Bayern Munich, ending an almost 20-year career at Tottenham Hotspur, the club he first joined as an 11-year-old.

Kane, 30, will play for Bayern until 2027, the German football club said in a statement on Saturday.

The signing brings an end to weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations that saw Bayern increase its offer to more than €100 million ($126 million) plus a potential €20 million in bonus payments, according to Germany’s Bild newspaper. That makes the striker the most expensive signing ever for a Bundesliga club, according to Transfermarkt.

It’s “hard to put into words how to say goodbye to a club and fans who have done so much for me in my career,” Kane said in an emotional posting on Instagram on Saturday. “I felt like this was the time to leave, I didn’t want to go into the season with a lot of unresolved future talk.”

It’s possible Kane, who’ll wear the No. 9 jersey for his new team, will take the field for Bayern as soon as Saturday, when the club takes on RB Leipzig in the German Super Cup, although his debut is more likely to be against Werder Bremen in its opening game in the new Bundesliga season next week, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.

Kane is the all-time leading goalscorer for England and for Tottenham Hotspur. Despite his years in the Premier League with the Spurs, he’s yet to win a major trophy. 

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