Kane becomes Ballon d’Or favourite after 61 goals
Harry Kane may finally win the trophy that has always eluded him. After a season in which he scored 61 goals in just 51 games for Bayern Munich, the English striker appears as the bookmakers’ favourite for the Ballon d’Or, priced at 13/10 by Betfair.
A gap that nagged
For years, Kane was treated as one of the greatest goalscorers without enough silverware to fight for football’s most coveted individual prize. In his Tottenham days, the numbers were always excellent, but collective titles were missing, precisely the criterion that tends to weigh on the jurors’ minds.
The move to Bayern solved that equation. This season, the centre-forward lifted the Bundesliga trophy, won the DFB-Pokal and also claimed the German Super Cup, all while piling up the top-scorer awards in the national league and the domestic cup.
The World Cup boosts his candidacy
Even with England falling by the wayside at the World Cup, Kane found the net six times in the tournament, reaffirming that he can deliver on the most demanding stages. Combining club and country, hardly any other name presents such a complete record over the last twelve months.
Heavyweight competition
The race, however, is far from comfortable. Lamine Yamal comes right behind, at 9/4, after helping Spain lift the World Cup and Barcelona win La Liga and the Spanish Super Cup, all at 19 years old and with 24 goals and 18 assists in the season.
Other names remain in the fight:
- Lionel Messi, who won the MLS Cup, MVP and top-scorer award in the American league with Inter Miami
- Kylian Mbappé, top scorer in La Liga and the Champions League with Real Madrid
- Rodri, named the World Cup’s best player despite a club season hampered by injury
- Ousmane Dembélé, the current holder of the prize, who lifted Ligue 1 and the Champions League with PSG
None of them, however, brings together the combination of numbers and achievements that Kane presents in this cycle. After a decade dodging the label of best player without a major individual trophy, the Englishman finally seems to have gathered everything that was missing to change that story.
