Harry Kane is, without a doubt, a phenomenon. He plays almost every three days—and usually at an extremely high level. He isn’t expected to get many breaks this season either, as Vincent Kompany has now revealed.
Although Kane was granted a short period of special leave after the World Cup, he was back in the starting lineup for FC Bayern shortly after returning to training. He started in all three competitive matches, which is impressive given how few training sessions he’d had.
Following the cup match in Osnabrück, which Bayern won convincingly 4–1, Vincent Kompany explained why Kane needs so few breaks.
Kompany on Kane: “He knows his body”
“Harry is one of the few players who now has the experience to know when and how hard he needs to push himself. He’s very smart with his movement on the field, which is why he can often play the full 90 minutes. Sure, he needs a break every now and then, but not that often. He knows his body, and that obviously helps him,” said Kompany. So smart energy management plays a crucial role.
But you don’t get the feeling that Kane holds back in games like this one against a second-division team. He’s already covering a lot of ground and occasionally drops deep. The many intense sprints might not be the norm here.
There’s another topic surrounding Kane as well: his new contract. Kompany didn’t want to go into too much detail about this after the cup game: “For me, it’s about being able to see that he’s happy. As for everything else—and I was a player myself—I’ll refrain from commenting while the parties are in talks. Of course, everyone knows he’s exceptionally good; you can see that.”
Kane will surely have taken his coach’s praise to heart. And all parties involved in the negotiations recently stated that they’re taking a relaxed approach. That’s a good sign.
