Harry Kane: Europe's top scorer plays like a midfielder - we asked him to break down his game

Harry Kane reveals tactical evolution behind record scoring

Harry Kane is one of the leading names in the race for this year's Ballon d'Or, having scored 73 goals last season for club and country. The 33-year-old England and Bayern Munich striker says his increasingly complete role, popping up to collect the ball as deep as his own box, is deliberate.

"Until you really understand football and understand what we've been talking about, it's so easy to say 'stay high, you're going to score' but it doesn't work like that," Kane said.

Watching Kane train, his professionalism is palpable. England's record goalscorer is one of the first out on the pitch. The younger players indulge in playful kick-ups as he watches, engaged in conversation with a member of staff. From a distance, that makes it easy to confuse him with a coach but, given his role on the pitch, it is a fitting mistake.

How dropping deep helps Kane score

The season is in its infancy but Kane isn't basking in the success of the past 12 months. With only five days of pre-season training under his belt, the England captain completed 90 minutes of Bayern's 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund to lift the German Super Cup.

Across the past six seasons, STATSports found his distance covered, high-speed running and accelerations were up 8%, 22% and 42% respectively.

"Over the last five or six years, man-to-man pressure has become bigger," Kane says. "European football is physical and top teams are trying to win the ball back high, trusting their defenders and midfielders to defend man for man to win their battles."

Kane's dribbling is cerebral. His speed of thought provides him solutions to problems others would attempt to solve with their feet alone. After getting low and using his strength to shrug centre-back Waldemar Anton off him, Kane rose, slightly adjusting his body to the right. These micro-adjustments are a hallmark of his game and through them he is able to shift an entire team's momentum. Fooled by this feint, Daniel Svensson and Jobe Bellingham found themselves wrong-footed as Kane snapped the ball back the other way, opening up the entire pitch from within Bayern's half.

"I think it's partly instinct, using my football brain and getting the feeling on the pitch," says Kane. "If, for example, I want to drop and see if the centre-back really wants to commit, he might commit into midfield, but is he going to commit if I drop all the way to my box? After the first five or 10 minutes you really get an understanding of how the opposition are going to play, which dictates how I play."

In the second minute of Bayern Munich's game against Arsenal, Kane dropped deep into a position normally occupied by centre-backs. Arsenal centre-back William Saliba marked him all the way, vacating space higher up the pitch.

Kane feels his position now is as one of two 10s, and you work together. "You can double up on one side to overload, which causes the opposition centre-backs a problem of who to mark. If they want to mark both, they've got to go man-to-man and then that leaves space for our wingers or full-backs to run into. It's posing all these questions to the opposition but, personally, I love having someone close to me who I can link with."

"When you're the number nine on your own you can get marked by two centre-backs and you struggle to get touches on the ball. You're relying on everyone else to find you with the ball."

Showing Kane two clips from last season, he explains: "The thing with our formation is, as long as there's someone in each position, it doesn't really matter who it is. Lucho [Luis Diaz] in this clip is playing as one of those 10s. I've come off to try and create a bit of space and Lucho's gone through the centre." Distracted by Kane's dropping-deep movement, one of the opposition midfielders is pulled towards him. This creates space, allowing Joshua Kimmich to punch the ball through to Diaz.

"I think it's Serge Gnabry making the run in behind which takes the defenders back, which allows me and Lucho that space in between. Lucho lays it off and whenever I'm in that position, around 20-25 yards out, I'm always looking if I can get my shot off."

"By playing deep when the play develops, I end up coming into a number 10 spot when everyone's dropped. I can get shots off from the edge of the box, which is a big strength of mine, or I'm running off the back of players where no-one's picking me up - because the midfielder finds it hard to [track]."

The second clip is from Bayern's Champions League tie against Club Brugge. Usually Kane is marked by an opposition centre-back, but the Belgian club give that responsibility to their holding midfielder - something he recognises and exploits. Lennart Karl scores without Kane touching the ball, but the striker's involvement is undeniable.

"These are the little runs, again, not everyone sees. With Jamal Musiala and Lenny, they're so good at receiving the ball and dribbling so there'll be times where I will actually stay higher and let those guys get on the ball a bit deeper, and I'll try and make runs in behind. Without changing my game too much, I try and complement the players around me. I know Lenny is so good in those pockets and when he gets there, I'm more thinking of running in behind because, one, he can play me in and I can go through on goal, or two, he can dribble with the ball and do exactly what happened here. As soon as Lenny gets in that pocket I make the run and not always to get the ball, sometimes it is just to drag the defender away. Now he's one-against-one with a centre-back in the middle of the pitch and that's"