Harry Kane wins the Ballon d’Or after completing one of football’s most unlikely journeys, rising from a series of low-profile loan spells to become the first English recipient of the award in 25 years.
Tim Sherwood, the former Tottenham manager who handed Kane his full Premier League debut, described the Bayern Munich striker’s achievement as “a Cinderella story we’ve never seen before”.
“He keeps breaking records, and I keep thinking, ‘Are we talking about the same kid?’” Sherwood said. “There was always a chance, because he felt like there was no ceiling – he would always just break through and go further.”
Kane is the fifth Englishman to win the prize and the first since Michael Owen in 2001. Owen was 22 when he collected the award, whereas Kane’s honour has arrived at the age of 33, 15 years after making his senior debut on loan at Leyton Orient.
His route to the summit included temporary moves to Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester. Sherwood believes those spells were crucial to Kane’s development rather than evidence of a player who had failed to establish himself.
“I hear a lot of people talking about failed loans,” Sherwood said. “They were really good loans, and those loans were the reason why we’ve got a player like that.”
Harry Kane’s road from Tottenham to Bayern Munich
Kane was struggling to secure a place in Tottenham’s first-team picture when Andre Villas-Boas left the club. Sherwood’s appointment created the opportunity that changed his career.
He gave Kane his first Premier League start in April 2014, when the 20-year-old scored the opening goal in a 5-1 victory over Sunderland.
“He wasn’t getting anywhere unfortunately,” Sherwood said. “He wasn’t around the first-team squad, so I suppose it’s a sliding doors moment that I managed to take over until the end of the season and I managed to give him a stage where he could perform.”
Kane went on to become Tottenham’s record goalscorer, England’s all-time leading scorer, the country’s leading World Cup scorer and the top English scorer in Champions League history. His combined tally for club and country is now close to 550 goals.
He left Tottenham for Bayern Munich in a £100 million move in the summer of 2023, a transfer Jamie Carragher believes was essential if Kane was to receive wider recognition at the highest level.
“It’s a move he needed to make,” Carragher said. “There’s no way Harry Kane could’ve won the Ballon d’Or if he was playing for Tottenham.”
Kane’s first season at Bayern produced 61 goals in all competitions, 19 more than any other player in Europe’s five major leagues. His 73 goals overall represented a new peak in his prolific career.
He has since won back-to-back Bundesliga titles and a German Cup in Germany, adding team honours to the individual awards that had accumulated during a trophyless spell at Tottenham.
Sherwood said Kane had always been motivated by collective success rather than personal recognition.
“He’s a 100 per cent team man,” he said. “If I told you he would rather win the Champions League and the Bundesliga title than the Ballon d’Or for himself, that would be the truth.”
“He wanted to go to a team that could win, and he picked Bayern, and we have to say it’s been a good choice.”
Kane’s influence extends beyond his finishing. His vision and passing have made him an accomplished playmaker, while he won the Premier League Playmaker of the Season award during the 2020-21 campaign with Tottenham.
Carragher still ranks Bobby Charlton above Kane as England’s greatest player, pointing to Charlton’s World Cup and European Cup victories. Kane and England have yet to win a major international trophy.
Kane’s possible Premier League return
Sherwood believes Kane could eventually return to England in pursuit of Alan Shearer’s Premier League scoring record. Kane is 47 goals short of Shearer’s total of 260.
But any return, Sherwood suggested, would depend on Kane believing that his next club could compete for major honours. He identified Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and a progressing Tottenham as potential possibilities, while ruling out Chelsea and Arsenal because of Kane’s connection with Spurs.
For now, the Ballon d’Or stands as the clearest recognition yet of a career built through patience, loan moves and the determination to keep forcing his way forward.
