Arsenal on red alert after Harry Kane ‘secures’ exit clause to ‘return to England’

A stunning clause in Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich contract allows the striker to ‘return to England’ for a heavily-discounted sum, with any transfer to have a knock-on effect on Arsenal’s own striker plans, according to a report.

Harry Kane has done exactly what was expected since leaving boyhood club Tottenham for Bayern Munich. The 31-year-old has scored goals for fun, with his record in Bavaria currently standing at 70 goals in 72 appearances. Kane has also laid 22 assists on for his teammates in that time.

But according to a stunning new update from BILD, there is a clause within Kane’s terms that allows the frontman to leave Bayern and move back to England.

It has long been speculated Kane may one day return to the Premier League, with Alan Shearer’s record of 260 goals in his sights.

Kane currently sits second on that list with 213 and could conceivably surpass Shearer within two seasons of Premier League play.

Per BILD, breaking Shearer’s record does appeal to Kane and accordingly, he and his team successfully added a key clause into his Bayern deal.

It’s claimed Kane can activate a clause in the January windows of 2025 and 2026 that then facilitates his move in the summer that follows.

Given the 2025 winter window has just passed without Kane triggering the clause, he will not be on the move next summer.

However, the exit mechanism remains active this time next year and if activated, Kane would then be free to leave Bayern in the summer of 2026. A transfer at that time, per BILD, will cost €65m/£54m.

That would be a sizeable sum to pay for a player who’ll be aged 32 at that time. However, Kane remains one of world football’s most productive strikers despite already being the wrong side of 30 and his game has never been based around pace.

BILD did not offer any insight into whether Kane could return to Tottenham or whether a different Premier League side would make a move.

But one club’s transfer plans who could be affected is Arsenal…

Bayern want Arsenal target as Kane replacement

Another window came and went without Arsenal signing a potent new striker. The Gunners may well overhaul Liverpool and lift their first EPL title since 2004 without one, though only time will tell in that regard.

What is clear is Arsenal did attempt to sign a striker in January, with an offer totalling £60m lodged for Ollie Watkins of Aston Villa.

Explaining Arsenal’s failed attempts to add more firepower, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano told his YouTube channel: “Probably the most asked question of the deadline day: what are Arsenal going to do?

“What we can say is Arsenal considered several options, dream options like Benjamin Sesko, almost impossible options like Alexander Isak, who were never going to leave their clubs in January.

“But Arsenal understood it was almost impossible to make it happen now, so these two names – Isak and Sesko – remain for the summer.”

On Watkins specifically, Romano added: “Arsenal tried for Watkins a few days ago, but Aston Villa were furious [about the bid arriving] before the Champions League game [vs Celtic].

“Also the transfer fee: £60m add-ons included, were not enough to convince Aston Villa.

“Unai Emery wanted the player to stay and Jhon Duran going to Al-Nassr also had an impact. For Villa, money was no longer needed.”

As mentioned, RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko is one of two confirmed Arsenal targets for the summer. But per BILD’s update on Kane, Bayern consider Sesko one of two worthy replacements if Kane does depart.

The report stated: ‘Names such as Benjamin Sesko (21/RB Leipzig) or Viktor Gyokeres (26/Sporting) have been discussed internally.

‘Both would cost a high transfer fee of around 70 million euros, but would receive significantly less salary than Kane, who came to Bayern as a top star and earns an estimated 25 million euros a year.’

But as mentioned, Kane cannot leave via his exit clause in the upcoming summer after neglecting to trigger the mechanism in the winter window.

As such, the onus is on Arsenal to put a deal in place for Sesko BEFORE Bayern Munich come calling, potentially ahead of Kane’s return to England in 2026.

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