Kane admitted he was certainly thinking about the personal accolade, but winning trophies with Bayern and England comes first.
When Bayern Munich fell well short to Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga last season and got knocked out of the Champions League semifinals by Real Madrid, it added fuel to the banter fire of Harry Kane still not winning any silverware. It looks like that could very well change for the England skipper by the middle to end of May, but he still had the season of his life in front of goal in his first season with the German Rekordmeister after making his big move from Tottenham Hotspur.
When all was said and done last season, Kane had tallied 44 goals and 12 assists from a total of 44 appearances across all competitions, and this season he has already scored 32 goals and has provided 11 assists from 37 appearances. He could still very well equal and/or better his tally with the remaining matches in the Bundesliga and Champions League as Bayern pushes across both fronts, which could realistically, along with his exploits for England, put him in the conversation for the 2025 Ballon d’Or.
Of course, the Ballon d’Or decision is usually met with a great deal of controversy and is not often, in the wake of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi’s prime, a unanimous pick, but Kane did recently admit that it is something that is on his mind.
“100 percent. I felt that last season as well, I scored over 40 goals, but obviously, I was never going to win the Ballon d’Or because we didn’t win the team trophies,” Kane explained when he was asked about the accolade in a press conference ahead of England’s World Cup qualifier against Albania at Wembley (via @iMiaSanMia).
Photo by Oliver Kaelke/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
On paper, Kane certainly did enough last season to be in the conversation for the award, but Bayern going without a trophy for the first time in over a decade really killed any chance he realistically had — that could all change for next year’s award.
At Tottenham, there really was not ever a chance for him to be in the running for the Ballon d’Or, as he explained. “I felt like, probably here at Spurs, no matter how many goals I scored, ultimately unless you win the title and the Champions League, you’re not going to be in those conversations. I finished 10th in the Ballon d’Or while at Spurs and that was as high as I probably could have finished. Those opportunities are there [now]. That’s probably what I mean in terms of being respected more worldwide, on the bigger stage. For something like that, you have to win enough team trophies to be considered in that and probably score 40-odd goals, but that is a possibility this season. That is definitely something I would love to try to achieve,” he stressed.
Regardless of whether or not Kane is in the running to potentially win the Ballon d’Or the next time around, there are two trophies for him to win, first and foremost. Even for him, the Bundesliga and/or the Champions League would be the first club trophies he’s won in his playing career – absolutely worth it regardless of whether or not it has any bearing on him potentially winning the Ballon d’Or.
