"It was Michael Owen, another of England's greatest goalscorers, who expressed astonishment recently that Kane moved to Bayern at the start of the 2023-24 season just when he was closing in on Alan Shearer's record of 260 Premier League goals. In a sport drowning in statistics and increasingly in thrall to the cult of the individual rather than the spirit of the team, Owen's words struck a chord with many. Kane, they say, would have surpassed Shearer's mark by now had he stayed at Spurs."
"It is, ironically, testimony to the ephemerality of some records that most people seem to have forgotten that Jimmy Greaves, not Shearer, is the greatest goalscorer in the history of England's top flight. Greaves tops the all-time list with 357 goals - Shearer is fifth on 283 - but Greaves' crime was that he played before the Premier League existed. Broadcasters, in particular, seem afraid to acknowledge the fact that anything before 1992 carried merit lest it should besmirch the sanctity of their product."
Harry Kane moved from Tottenham Hotspur to Bayern Munich in 2023 to pursue team trophies rather than continue chasing Premier League goalscoring records. Some observers, including Michael Owen, criticized the move because Kane was close to Alan Shearer's Premier League record. The Premier League record is influenced by broadcasters' framing of English football as beginning in 1992, which omits earlier top-flight achievements such as Jimmy Greaves' 357 goals. Greaves remains the all-time top-flight goalscorer, while Shearer sits fifth on 283. The debate contrasts individual statistical glory with the pursuit of collective success.
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