Harry Kane's Ridiculous Year: Bundesliga Player of the Season, Golden Boot Favourite, Now Ballon d'Or Talk

A season for the ages

While the debate rages over why he was benched against France, the bigger picture is being lost: Harry Kane is having one of the most dominant individual years any striker has produced in recent memory. He has been voted Bundesliga Player of the Year, and reports out of Germany suggest he is not just leading Europe's scoring charts but doing so by a huge margin over the chasing pack at Bayern Munich.

That form has followed him to the World Cup, where Kane is now being mentioned in the same breath as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland in what pundits are calling one of the great Golden Boot races in tournament history. The Athletic has gone as far as to say the current spread of superstar form, Kane included, is simply not normal for a World Cup.

Why it matters

Kane has spent a career being compared unfavourably to the Messis and Ronaldos of the world when it comes to major honours. That conversation is shifting. His own take on the debate is telling: asked to compare himself with Haaland, Kane called the Norwegian a completely different type of player, a pointed reminder that he sees his game as more rounded than raw finishing.

With his stock at Bayern sky high and his World Cup form feeding a genuine Golden Boot race, Kane's name is now cropping up in early Ballon d'Or chatter alongside Lamine Yamal and Mbappe, two players closely tied to the post-Messi era of the award. For a player who has never lifted a major trophy with England and only recently added Bundesliga silverware to his cabinet at club level, this is new territory.

The tension underneath

All of this makes his underuse in England's biggest games this tournament, most recently against France, all the more baffling to supporters and pundits alike. The best goalscorer in Europe by a distance, in career-best individual form, is not guaranteed a starting shirt for his country. That contradiction is fuelling much of the noise around Kane right now, even as the numbers make the case for him as one of the outstanding players on the planet this year.

What happens next

Expect the Golden Boot race to intensify as the World Cup progresses, with Kane, Mbappe, Messi and Haaland all in the frame. Bayern will hope his club form translates into more silverware come the business end of the European season, and if England go deep in this tournament with Kane among the leading scorers, the Ballon d'Or conversation will only get louder, whatever Gareth Southgate's successor decides about his starting spot.