Metro’s verdict ran in black and white this week: Harry Kane is the greatest footballer in the world, “hands down.” It is an opinion column, not a news story, but it lands at the moment the sport’s own statisticians are catching up to the same conclusion.

Three days earlier, on 26 October, Kane was handed the 2026 Ballon d’Or at the London Palladium, finishing ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal in a vote of 100 journalists from the top FIFA-ranked men’s nations. Lionel Messi came fifth and Vinícius Júnior 17th, Bundesliga.com reported. Kane is the first Englishman to win the award since Michael Owen in 2001.

The spine of the case is 2025/26. Kane scored 73 goals for Bayern Munich and England, including 36 in the Bundesliga, 14 in 13 Champions League appearances and six at the FIFA World Cup, where England finished third. The haul was the second-best in European football since Lionel Messi’s 2011/12 campaign, and Kane added the Gerd Müller trophy for top scorer to his Ballon d’Or at the ceremony.

On stage in London, Kane thanked the England dressing room.

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“It was truly an honor to captain England, to lead you. This one is for all of you, for sure,” he told the audience, according to Yahoo Sports.

The present tense matters too. Kane has 17 goals and nine assists in 16 appearances this season across all competitions for Vincent Kompany’s Bayern, with a hat-trick at Stuttgart and a goal at VfL Bochum in a Bundesliga Player of the Month October. Bayern lead the Bundesliga by five points.

The rivals who keep it a debate

If Kane were simply the standout, Metro’s piece would be a verdict rather than an argument. He is not.

Mbappé outscored him in last season’s Champions League, and showed up again on 25 October at Camp Nou. The France captain scored both goals in Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Barcelona, including a late tap-in from an Eduardo Camavinga cutback. Kane’s Ballon d’Or margin over him was not large.

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Yamal, 19, missed a close-range chance in that Clasico that would have changed the night. He still finished third in the Ballon d’Or vote and was named a candidate for La Liga’s October Player of the Month. Vinícius came 17th, Messi fifth, Rodri fourth.

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