Harry Kane has now scored 500 goals for club and country(Image: Getty Images)
Ahead of what turned out to be a fairly memorable Scotland-England match at Hampden Park in the early summer of 2017, Harry Kane sat down with a few of us to discuss his excellent season. He had scored 29 Premier League goals for Tottenham Hotspur in the 2016/17 season, following on from the 25 he had scored in the 2015/16 campaign.
Those numbers had given him back-to-back Golden Boots but the 24-year-old had his sights set on higher individual honours. “It’s definitely something I aspire to,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to win that big gold trophy?”
Kane was referring to the Ballon d’Or and his ambition was admired by his audience but, it is fair to say, not accepted as overly realistic. He had scored 20-plus goals in three consecutive seasons and had won over sceptics who doubted he could be a major Premier League force.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Latest news, analysis and much more on Mirror Football’s Facebook page
Internationally, though, the jury was still out. Prior to that Scotland game – in which he scored a dramatic late equaliser after Leigh Griffiths had more than cancelled out Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s opener – Kane had scored five times in 17 England appearances, two of those goals coming against Lithuania and San Marino.
But in the nine years or so that have followed, anyone who thought Kane was never going to be in the Ballon d’Or class has been proven emphatically wrong. That he has never finished higher than 10th in the ranking has been an indictment of the award’s voting system.
Of course, winning the Ballon d’Or normally goes hand-in-hand with a player’s club or/and country winning something of significance. So, Kane’s hopes of winning the game’s most prestigious individual honour is largely dependent on Bayern Munich’s achievements and/or England’s performance at World Cup 2026.
But as he hit yet another career landmark – scoring his 500th goal – Kane must surely rank as Europe’s most in-form player. His 26 Bundesliga goals is a Europe-leading figure. Kylian Mbappe is the top-scorer in Spain with 23 and Erling Haaland the top-scorer in England with 22. Lautaro Martinez leads the way in Italy with 14 and Mason Greenwood in France with 13.
Kane’s goal scoring consistency is so great that his numbers do not startle as they should. Quicker than Cristiano Ronaldo to the 500-goal mark, long established as football’s highest-scoring Englishman.
Highest scorer for England, with 78 goals, highest English scorer in Champions League history (48), 213 Premier League goals, 89 Bundesliga goals. They are, by any standards, remarkable figures.
He has scored in his last two Champions League appearances. There are suggestions Kane has a release clause of around £56million and as he has yet to officially open talks on a new Bayern deal, there is still speculation he could return to England and restart a pursuit of Alan Shearer’s 260-goal Premier League record.
Manchester United have been amongst the clubs linked with Kane. But of the options open to Kane, the most alluring could be for him to see out his contract at Bayern and then take his pick of Europe’s elite in the summer of 2027.
Even though Kane will turn 34 that summer, Lewandowski has shown that a great striker, at that age, can have at least four more seasons left at elite level. Kane could head back to the Premier League, on a free, in the summer of 2027 and have at least four seasons to cruise past Shearer’s record. But before then, he will be doing all he can to bring success to Bayern and England … and winning that elusive Ballon d’Or.
