Bayern Munich have unique plan for Harry Kane back-up with interest in England teammate

Luis Diaz could deputise as centre forward for Harry Kane at Bayern Munich, even if Anthony Gordon is on their shortlist this summer.

That’s according to European football journalist Andy Brassell as the German giants look to build upon yet another Bundesliga triumph.

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Bayern were crowned German champions for the 35th time in their history last weekend with a 4-2 home victory against VfB Stuttgart.

Kane came off the bench to score his 51st goals in all competitions, with his overall club tally now at a whopping 136 in 139 appearances.

Nicolas Jackson, who is on loan from Chelsea, has been his back-up and also got his goals, although he is likely to leave at the end of the season.

talkSPORT understands that Bayern are set to advance their pursuit of Gordon, who Newcastle value at £75million.

The 25-year-old natural winger has played in the striker role and been successful in doing so, most notably scoring four goals against Qarabag in the Champions League.

However, Brassell believes Bayern may look closer to home for their next star to be second in command to Kane instead of Gordon.

Speaking to talkSPORT.com, he explained: “It would still be a little bit of a surprise to me if Anthony Gordon ended up at Bayern.

“But I guess there are things to recommend it. One, cover – a team expected to play pretty much every available game in the season going into it.

“Luis Diaz has added something huge to them in terms of being the player in that spot who is different to Anthony Gordon because he’s more likely to go on the inside than the outside.

“But nevertheless, a player who tends to occupy the same sort of space. I guess this says something about the potential departure or the almost certain departure of Nicolas Jackson.

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“Because even if Harry Kane stays, and let’s assume for the moment he does stay because he’s having a great time at Bayern, if he stays for the next couple of years… you’re going to need a situation where you’ve got to back-up Kane again.

“So, that back-up could be Luis Diaz because we’ve seen him play at centre-forward to great effect, even though he’s a very, very different type of centre-forward, of course.

“Gordon has shown that he can do that, even if he didn’t really look comfortable in that spot at the start of the season.

“He’s played as a forward since in the Champions League and it’s been better. I think he’s learned a little bit better how to play the role.

“I think there’s a question of where you play Jamal Musiala and where you play Michael Olise as well. Do you continue to play them wide or do they dip into more central positions?

“And I guess it’s the fact that last summer they didn’t get Nick Woltemade, Gordon’s club-mate, who again is a very different sort of player but occupies not entirely dissimilar zones in the pitch.

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“I think for Bayern to sign someone who they know is top class, who they know has still got room to improve, and they know is versatile enough to fill a number of positions.

“This is something Harry Kane pointed out when he spoke to us before the start of the Bundesliga season, after the Super Cup. He said, ‘Look, this is one of the smallest squads I’ve played in’.

“Bear in mind that he’s only been at Bayern for three years and before that he was at Spurs, who weren’t under the same calendar pressure habitually as Bayern are.

“That was an interesting thing for him to say and he was clearly putting some general pressure on the board to go and do something.

“That’s why they went and got Nicolas Jackson, even though it became quickly clear that this wouldn’t be a lasting arrangement and this wouldn’t be for the long term for either of them.

“In terms of the versatility of Gordon, I think there’s a lot to recommend it, even though we’re talking about what would be a very expensive deal for Bayern.”