The England captain achieved another scoring milestone with two goals in the latest Bundesliga game, with the German club keen to start contract talks soon.
Harry Kane reaches 500 goals for club and country (Image: Getty Images)
In the early summer of 2017, Harry Kane sat down with some of us to discuss his incredible season ahead of what turned out to be a pretty memorable match between Scotland and England at Hampden Park. He scored 29 Premier League goals for Tottenham Hotspur in 2016/17, following his 25 goals in 2015/16.
Those figures earned him back-to-back Golden Boot awards, but the 24-year-old had his sights set on higher individual honors. “That’s definitely what I want,” he said. “Who wouldn’t want to win that big gold trophy?”
Kane mentioned the Ballon d’Or, and while his ambition was praised by the audience, it’s safe to say it wasn’t received as overly realistic. He had scored 20 or more goals in three consecutive seasons, attracting skeptics who doubted he could become a mainstay in the Premier League.
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But internationally, the jury was still out. Prior to the game against Scotland, where Leigh Griffiths canceled out Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s opener and scored a dramatic late equaliser, Kane had scored five goals in 17 games against England, two of which came against Lithuania and San Marino.
But over the next nine years or so, anyone who thought Kane would never be in the Ballon d’Or class was clearly proven wrong. The fact that he has never finished higher than 10th in the rankings is an indictment of the award’s voting system.
Of course, winning the Ballon d’Or usually goes hand in hand with the player’s club or country winning something important. Kane’s hopes of winning the game’s most prestigious individual honor therefore rest heavily on Bayern Munich’s achievements and England’s performance at the 2026 World Cup.
Robert Lewandowski will turn 38 this summer, but he’s still scoring goals… and winning trophies for Barcelona (Image: Haitham AL-SHUKAIRI/AFP via Getty Images)
However, with Kane achieving his new goal of scoring his 500th career goal, he will undoubtedly be ranked as the most in-form player in Europe. His 26 Bundesliga goals are the most in Europe. Kylian Mbappé is the top scorer for Spain with 23 goals, while Erling Haaland is the top scorer for England with 22 goals. Lautaro Martinez leads Italy with 14 points, while Mason Greenwood leads France with 13 points.
Kane’s goal-scoring consistency has been very good, so those numbers aren’t surprising. He reached the 500-goal mark faster than Cristiano Ronaldo, long established as the highest-scoring English player in football.
England’s top scorer (78 goals), Champions League’s all-time top scorer (48 goals), 213 goals in the Premier League and 89 in the Bundesliga. Those are remarkable numbers by any standard.
Harry Kane will lead Thomas Tuchel’s England to the 2026 World Cup (Image: Eddie Keogh/The FA via Getty Images)
Harry Kane reached 500 goals faster than Cristiano Ronaldo, but the Portuguese superstar has five Ballon d’Or trophies, while the England captain has none (Image: ANDREW YATES/AFP via Getty Images)
He has scored in his last two Champions League appearances. Kane is said to have a release clause in the region of £56 million and, as he has yet to officially begin negotiations for a new contract with Bayern, there is still speculation that he could return to England and resume his bid for Alan Shearer’s record of 260 Premier League goals.
Manchester United are also one of the clubs rumored to be linked with Kane. However, the most attractive option for Kane may be to see his contract with Bayern through to the end and then be named among Europe’s elite players in the summer of 2027.
Kane will turn 34 in the summer and Lewandowski has proven that great strikers at that age can have at least four more seasons at elite level. Kane will return to the Premier League on a free transfer in the summer of 2027 and will be able to surpass Shearer’s record for at least four seasons. But before that, he will do everything in his power to bring success to Bayern and England and win the elusive Ballon d’Or.
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