Ballon d’Or: Harry Kane’s crowning moment

Harry Kane’s Ballon d’Or triumph is the crowning moment for a player whose trophy collection does not do justice to his remarkable talent and consistency. The Bayern Munich striker, 33, is the first Englishman to win football’s most coveted individual honour since Michael Owen in 2001. Kane’s numbers are staggering and the England captain appears to be improving with age, with 73 goals for club and country last season.

In September he became the fastest player to reach 100 Bundesliga goals, hitting the landmark on his 98th league appearance for Bayern. He is also Tottenham’s all-time leading scorer with 280 goals, England’s record scorer with 91, and the highest-scoring English player in the Champions League (58). But for all his personal achievements in club and international football, Kane’s medal collection is limited to German domestic triumphs since he arrived at Bayern in 2023.

He was on the losing side for Tottenham in the 2019 Champions League final against Liverpool and was in England teams that twice lost the European Championship final. Kane’s lethal finishing is not the only string to his bow. Honing an instinct he first developed as a youth team player, Kane has also blossomed into a gifted playmaker. “I feel like I’ve always had the passing range and the vision and the football brain — the game understanding — throughout my whole career, and I think that’s just flourished these last couple of years especially, these last few years since I’ve been here at Bayern,” he told UEFA.com. – Ageing like fine wine – The clean-cut Kane, married to his childhood sweetheart Katie Goodland, is an understated throwback in an era of football bling.

But it has not always been plain sailing for a player who struggled to make an impression early in his career with Tottenham and was farmed out to other clubs on loan. There were almost two years between Kane’s first Spurs goal, against Shamrock Rovers in 2011, and his next, against Hull in 2013. Even after his breakthrough season in 2014/15, he was dubbed a “one-season wonder”, an accusation that has proved laughably wide of the mark.

Bayern boss Vincent Kompany has spoken of Kane’s numerous qualities, including his distribution, work rate and “game intelligence”. “To combine that side of his game with the numbers he has, you have to do the job to help the team progress and then still arrive in the box, so it is not an easy thing,” Kompany said. “That is something we have seen and been able to enjoy, and that was maybe underestimated at the time in England, but he is ageing like fine wine so I am just enjoying seeing that side of his game for us as well.” Bayern teammate Jonathan Tah praised Kane’s remarkable work ethic after seeing it up close.

“I played against him a lot and every time he got better — now I’m playing with him I see why,” he told the Times. “He’s never satisfied, you see him working before and after training. He’s the greatest finisher I’ve seen in my life — and he’s still working on it.” jw/smg/gj