The Ballon d’Or shortlist is out and now the electioneering begins. Bayern Munich would very much like Harry Kane to win it – their last was in 1981. The Football Association would presumably very much like Kane to win it – their last was in 2001.
Harry Kane would presumably like to win it too and that means lots of interviews where you say it would be an honour and you’re just glad to be in the running but do you remember all those goals?
He deserves it. We can all be deliberately cynical and snide if we want, but concluding that Kane has been the best player in the world this year is entirely uncontroversial. He scored 73 goals, which is the second most ever for a player in Europe’s top five leagues. And the only player with more was Lionel Messi, who is an alien freak and only did it once.
Kane played 51 times for Bayern last season and scored 61 goals; these are Messi and Ronaldo numbers. He won the European Golden Shoe because he was nine league goals ahead of Erling Haaland (who we consider to be a meat robot from the future) in four fewer games.
And he’s not even just a goalscorer. Kane’s majesty in dropping deep and playing passes around the corner or on the turn are the piece de resistance of his Bundesliga form. Oh yeah: he also scored in all five of the Champions League knockout matches he played in this year.
