Former England defender Joleon Lescott has claimed that Harry Kane is not getting the recognition his record-breaking performances deserve after the Bayern Munich striker finished only 13th in the 2025 Ballon d’Or rankings.

Despite scoring 41 goals last season, winning the Bundesliga title—his first major club honour—and becoming a back-to-back Golden Boot winner in Germany, Kane was overlooked in Paris as Ousmane Dembélé scooped football’s biggest individual prize.

Kane’s numbers remain staggering: 98 goals in 103 appearances for Bayern, including 70 Bundesliga goals in just 67 games. He has also already bagged 13 goals in seven matches this season, including two hat-tricks, while extending his England tally to 74 goals in 104 caps.

Lescott, speaking on Sky Bet’s In The Mixer podcast, said Kane’s brilliance often flies under the radar:

“I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but people don’t necessarily tune in to watch Harry Kane. There’s the talent, but the fundamentals of his game are ridiculously high, a lot like [Bukayo] Saka. But if it’s people basing it on who they want to see, it’s not Kane. What he’s done and what he has achieved is definitely taken for granted. Since he’s been at Bayern Munich, he’s scored more goals than games.”

With Kane continuing to deliver at elite levels both for club and country, questions remain over why one of the world’s most prolific No.9s is consistently undervalued when football’s biggest individual awards are handed out.