‘All day’ – Alan Shearer makes Ballon d’Or prediction as Harry Kane battles Lamine Yamal

Alan Shearer believes Harry Kane’s ‘insane’ goal record should see him win this year’s Ballon d’Or over Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal.

Kane scored a remarkable 73 goals for club and country last season, helping Bayern Munich win the league and cup double and captaining England to their best World Cup finish since 1966.

The 33-year-old has never finished higher than tenth in the prestigious individual award but is seen as one of the clear favourites to win this year when the awards are held in London later in October.

Kane has already scored six goals in seven matches for Bayern this season, and notched up a further six goals in England’s four games over this recent international break.

And Shearer believes the England captain’s remarkable goal record makes him the obvious favourite to win the award.

‘It should be Harry all day. His numbers are insane,’ Shearer said on The Rest Is Football podcast.

Kane’s biggest challenge is likely to come from teenage sensation Yamal, who followed up his domestic double with Barcelona by helping Spain win their second World Cup this summer.

Yamal notched up a staggering 42 goal involvements in 45 matches for Barcelona last season and is the first ever teenager to win both the European Championships and the World Cup.

The Spaniard would overtake Ronaldo Nazario as the youngest player ever to win the Ballon d’Or, but Gary Lineker is hopeful that the judging panel opts to reward Kane’s exploits instead.

‘Harry Kane’s had an incredible year,’ Lineker said. ‘He won the double with Bayern Munich, obviously. Lamine Yamal, though, won the double with Barcelona and a World Cup to boot.

‘Although he probably wasn’t his absolute best in the World Cup, but he still had some great moments. Winning the World Cup might make a difference.

‘I’d love to see Harry get it. I mean, he’s coming to, not towards the end of his career, because he still seems to be banging in more goals than ever.

‘He’s pretty much double the age of Lamine Yamal. So I’d love to see him get it. Lamine Yamal is going to win a few of them, but I don’t think that’s how they think.’

Asked who he would favour to win the award, Micah Richards added: ‘It’s a difficult one because Olise was probably the best player, wasn’t he, in the Bundesliga last year, although Harry scored a lot of goals as well

‘But then Mbappe was amazing, even in the World Cup. But then he didn’t win anything, he didn’t win the league with Real Madrid or the Champions League, did he? So obviously Mbappé is probably not going to get it.

‘Then Lamine, you mentioned he’s been outstanding, but he was going into the World Cup with an injury. He had great moments, but he wasn’t on fire the whole tournament. So I think this year it’s actually quite difficult, I would say. It’s a tight one.

‘It is a tight one. But for Harry Kane, like you said, because he’s an Englishman. Yeah, I’d go with Harry Kane this year.’

For more stories like this, check our sport page.

Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Comments


Add as preferred source