Jamie Carragher believes that Harry Kane would unlikely have clinched the Ballon d'Or had he remained at Tottenham. The former Liverpool defender argues that Kane's move to Bayern Munich has enabled him to compete for prestigious individual awards and come closer to winning the Champions League.
Kane received the Ballon d'Or at the award ceremony in 2026, edging out Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal. Reports indicate that the striker scored an impressive 73 goals for club and country last season.
Carragher congratulates the English forward
“I’m absolutely delighted for him. What a career he’s built, what a player he is. As a country, we don’t win the Ballon d'Or often enough,” Carragher stated during a Sky Sports broadcast.
The pundit also noted that the last Englishman to win the award before Kane was his former Liverpool teammate Michael Owen, who took the prize in 2001. Carragher added that Jude Bellingham could also become a future recipient of the prestigious award.
Why leaving the Premier League mattered
Kane made the move from Tottenham to Bayern Munich in 2023. Since then, he has found the net 156 times in 159 matches for the German giants. Notably, the Englishman turned down the chance to continue chasing the all-time scoring record in the Premier League.
“I thought he might be obsessed with the Premier League goalscoring record, but he’s obsessed with overall scoring records, not just one of them,” Carragher explained.
In Carragher’s view, playing for Bayern has provided Kane with far more opportunities to contend for Champions League glory and regularly vie for individual accolades.
“Harry Kane would never have won the Ballon d'Or had he played for Tottenham,” Carragher emphasised.
