Vincent Kompany is certain Harry Kane will stay with Bayern Munich for the long haul amid reports linking him with a Premier League return, also claiming the England captain has improved as a player since moving to the Bundesliga.

Reports this week suggested Kane could return to Tottenham, with his Bayern contract reportedly containing a release clause that will drop to £54m in January.

Spurs also reportedly have a first-refusal clause on Kane should he ever decide to leave Bayern, who are top of the Bundesliga table with four wins from four games.

They host Werder Bremen on Friday, and Kane is closing in on his 100th goal in Bayern colours, having netted 98 times in just 103 appearances for the club.

Kane has 11 goal involvements (eight goals, three assists) in the first four Bundesliga matchdays of 2024-25, a new record since German data collection began in 2004-05. 

Before Kane, only two players had previously scored eight goals in the first four games of a Bundesliga season – Serhou Guirassy in 2023-24 for Stuttgart (also eight) and Peter Meyer in 1967-68 for Borussia Monchengladbach (nine).

"Harry is in an excellent phase. I don't want to pave the way for any other discussions. I see that he still has the hunger to win trophies, and he can do that at Bayern," Kompany said on Thursday when asked about his striker's future.

"He's always been a goalscorer, but I think he has opened up his game, with the way he drops back between the lines... 

"In the end, that allows him to escape the attention of the defenders. And with that, he's developing further, he's a leader in the team."

Sitting alongside Kompany, sporting director Max Eberl said: "The way Harry is behaving shows that he is fully committed.

"He is old enough to make his own decisions, regardless of whether he has a release clause or not. Our desire is to achieve success with Harry this season and also in the future."

Horst Steffen's Werder Bremen side are 14th in the Bundesliga with four points from four games, having lost 3-0 at home to Freiburg last time out.

But Kompany has been impressed with Steffen's work since replacing Ole Werner ahead of the new season, saying: "You immediately see a new direction under the new coach. They're trying to dominate and play quick combinations through the middle, not many do that to such an extreme. 

"That has a lot to do with the coach. I like coaches who know the lower leagues and have success there. He's done that."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Bayern Munich – Serge Gnabry

Kane is not Bayern's only threat, as Gnabry has been involved in at least one goal in each of his last five Bundesliga games (four goals, two assists). 

He had only previously achieved that feat once for Bayern, doing so in April and May 2023. Only against Koln (12) does he have more Bundesliga goal involvements than he does against Werder (10).

Werder Bremen – Samuel Mbangula

With an average age of 28 years and 335 days, Bayern Munich have named the oldest starting line-ups in the Bundesliga this season. Werder, by contrast, have the youngest average age, at 24 years and 69 days old.

Twenty-one-year-old winger Mbangula has impressed so far this campaign, with one goal and one assist in three Bundesliga appearances. 

MATCH PREDICTION – BAYERN MUNICH WIN

This will be the 117th Bundesliga meeting between Bayern and Werder – no other match in the competition's history has been played as often. 

Bayern have only suffered more defeats in the Bundesliga against Borussia Monchengladbach (28) than against Werder (27), but they have lost only one of the last 31 Bundesliga meetings – a 1-0 home defeat in January 2024.

For the first time in seven years, Bayern have won their first seven competitive matches of a season, having also done so under Niko Kovac in 2018-19. 

They have never won more than seven consecutive competitive matches under Kompany, and the last time they had eight victories to start a season was in 2016-17 under Carlo Ancelotti.

Bayern scored 18 goals in their first four Bundesliga games this season, more than any team has ever scored in the first four games of a Bundesliga campaign, and they are heavy favourites to maintain their perfect record. 

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Bayern Munich – 82.3%

Werder Bremen – 7.3%

Draw – 10.4%