Harry Kane s transfer to Bayern Munich came as a surprise to former Tottenham player and assistant boss Gus Poyet.
Kane completed a switch to the Bundesliga champions last week, signing a four-year deal in Munich.
That came after Bayern had finally struck an £86.4million (€100m) deal with Tottenham for the 30-year-old, who scored 30 Premier League goals last season.
The England captain made his debut in Bayern s 3-0 defeat to RB Leipzig in the DFL-Supercup after saying he moved to Germany to win trophies.
For Poyet, the move was a shock, however, especially after Kane failed to seal a transfer to Manchester City in 2021.
I was surprised at Kane leaving because I said it, and I m not going to change my mind, two years ago I thought it was the time for him to go, Poyet said in an interview with Stats Perform.
I thought he s experienced, still young, so at that age he was still at the top of his career, looking for titles or silverware.
He didn t [go], and it was a big shock for me, so I wasn t expecting him to leave. I was not.
Going now and going abroad surprised me quite a lot.
Brentford 2-2 Tottenham
An entertaining draw in west London, with all four goals coming in an action-packed first half.
Spurs total of 452 successful passes in the opposition half was their highest tally in a Premier League game since New Years Day 2022.
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst)
Poyet is happy that Kane is going to test himself in another competition.
He added: I m pleased for him because it s going to be totally different for him, a new challenge completely different to England and I hope he does well because he deserves that feeling of winning a title.
Spurs began the post Kane era with a 2-2 draw at Brentford in Ange Postecoglou s first Premier League game in charge, and Poyet knows Tottenham will have a hard time replacing their former talisman.
I m really sad for the coach, because you go to Tottenham, and it s your first job in the Premier League and your main man – the one who is going to score 20+ goals – is gone, so you need to replace him and it s not easy, said Poyet, who is nevertheless excited to see Spurs in action this season.
I m not saying they cannot score goals [with] their front three, I m saying that it s just different, and they re going to have to adapt.
I think we saw already in pre-season and the first game that Tottenham is going to be very, very entertaining.
I would be surprised if a Tottenham game [involves] less than three goals – for or against – because this is the style of football.
They re going to be very offensive, they re going to be creating a lot and obviously when you go too far that way [forward] you leave space the other way and everybody plays. It s completely opposite to the way Spurs were playing in the last few years.
