How Harry Kane compares to previous British players at Bayern Munich?
By Tamhas Woods
Mark Hughes (Wales)
Arriving in 1987 as a loanee after a disappointing spell at Barcelona, Hughes was the first of only four Brits ever to pull on the Bavarian shirt in the Bundesliga. As a man equally adept up front and in the middle of the park, he was in many respects the sort of player the Bundesliga takes for granted today.
The Welshman would make just 18 appearances for Bayern, though a six-goal return makes him a one-in-three striker. It doesn’t sound like much, but if we multiply both numbers by 20 for the sake of argument, it’s 120 goals in 360 appearances.
Maths lesson aside, he also holds the unique accolade of playing two competitive matches on the same day. First came a Euro 88 qualifier for Wales in Prague, before he flew back to West Germany and came off the bench in a DFL-Pokal second-round replay against Borussia Monchengladbach.
Comparisons to Kane are obviously difficult considering his small tally of appearances for Die Roten. And while Hughes returned to Manchester United for a second stint instead of staying in Bavaria permanently, he utilized the confidence he rebuilt at Bayern to be a guiding light for the Red Devils’ Class of 92, which went on to dominate English football in the 1990s.
In that respect, there is some common ground with Kane in terms of motivation. Hughes needed confidence and Kane needs a trophy. So ‘one-in-three’ is the very least Bayern could expect from Kane, who would join the Reds after hitting 280 goals in 435 matches for Spurs (0.64 goals per game). (Stats courtesy: Transfermarkt)