England’s all-time leading scorer, Kane eventually left Tottenham in 2023 with a club-best 280 strikes under his belt, and his appetite has only increased since his switch to Bayern. His haul of 36 Bundesliga goals last season established a new record for a debut campaign, and he also finished as joint-top marksman in the Champions League, before setting his sights even higher this term.

So, how does he do it? Far from being coy about his methods, Kane opens up in the following pages about the keys to his success, from honing every aspect of his game to how to cope with different types of defenders. Behind all those goals lies a mountain of hard work – and a hunger to keep improving.

You’re widely regarded as one of the best centre-forwards in the world. What does being a “natural No9” mean to you, and how do you embrace that role on the pitch?

“Natural No9” is a broad term; most No9s are different in a lot of ways. I see myself as being a goalscorer, first and foremost. That’s one of the most, if not the most, important things about being a striker and an out-and-out No9. But I like to be involved in the game a lot more than maybe other No9s. I like to drop deep and link play. I like to hold the ball up when the team is under pressure. They’re all important factors in a game. A No9 is going to be judged on goals and how many they score, but it’s important when you’re not scoring goals that you still bring an impact to the team, both with and without the ball. A lot of work that we do in the high press starts with us, starts with me as the No9. So, it’s important that I try to do that well.

How do you read the game to find space and create opportunities for yourself and others?

It’s really important to have that awareness on the pitch. My “football brain” is probably one of my best attributes – and being able to find space, knowing where to be and where the ball is going to be, rather than just following it around the pitch. I try to use my movement to create space to allow me to get more chances or even create space for other players, understanding that you might be making a run not for yourself but for someone else to get the ball. Little things like that have a big impact on the game, which may go unnoticed in the moment, but people who understand football will know the work you do.

“I feel like if I’m at the peak of my game, if I’m playing the best I can, then there’s not really anyone who can stop me”

You are rare as a No9 in how you drop deep to link play. How did that come about and how do you balance that with being the primary scorer?

It developed from a young age. When I was a youth-team player, I played a lot in midfield – as a deep midfielder, a No8, a No10, and that helped me understand the position. It helped me be aware of my team-mates around me. As I got older, I became more of a No9 because I was good at scoring goals and making runs. It’s a huge part of my game. There’s a balance to it; you can’t always drop deep in certain games, especially when teams drop low, because you need to be in the goalscoring areas to help your team by scoring goals. But the game might open up, and you dropping deep creates space for other people, which also allows me to use my passing ability, which has developed over time as well. There may be a need to drop deep to help keep possession or help create space, and that’s what I have to decide in real time.

Is your goalscoring instinct something you’ve always had or has it come from hours of practice and refinement?

Both. I’ve always been able to score goals, even from a young age. Putting the ball in the back of the net was always something I was able to do. But then when I got to my early teenage years, I worked really hard on all different types of finishing because I understood that, in a game, you’re not going to get the perfect finish all the time. So, work on right foot, left foot, headers, free-kicks, penalties… anything. Any scenario can happen in a game, so you need to be prepared. I worked extremely hard on my finishing to become even better, especially with my left foot and headers. That allowed me to go into games full of confidence and be comfortable in those situations. Even natural goalscorers, goalscorers with the instinct to score goals, still have to work hard to be as good as possible.

How important is having the versatility to score with your head and both feet and how do you train to maintain that?

It’s really important. It separates the good strikers from the great strikers because players can score with their strong foot, but there comes a time when the opposition understands that and defenders can stop you or show you one side. So, if you’ve got as much variability as possible – being able to go left or right when you’re one-v-one, being a threat from headers – it just adds to your game and makes you even more difficult to stop. All I do is practise match-like situations, all different types of finishes, not just a perfect pass with a touch and a finish: one touch, two touch, headers, sometimes with a bouncing ball, with a ball on the floor, whatever it may be. It’s about trying to cover as many bases as possible so that you’re prepared for anything in the game.

Preparing for a match, do you study individual defenders and systems in detail, or do you focus more on playing your own game and trusting your instincts and game intelligence?

A bit of both. I don’t overanalyse the opposition. We’ll do quite a lot of analysis as a team: the threats they have, the weaknesses they have. So, when we’re in our meetings, of course I’m looking at the defenders and seeing what they do. Then, after that, I let my instincts take over. I don’t want to be thinking about the opposition too much. I feel like if I’m at the peak of my game, if I’m playing the best I can, then there’s not really anyone who can stop me. I like to have that instinctiveness on the pitch. Again, each game is different: you might prepare for a certain type of game and they might change their line-up just before the game. They might change their formation during the game. You have to be prepared for any scenario. In-game, it’s more important to be able to adapt and see where you can hurt the opposition, whether that’s dropping or staying high, or being in the box for crosses. You have to decide that in the moment, no matter how much analysis you do before the game.