English soccer’s wait for a fifth Ballon d’Or winner finally came to an end on Monday at the London Palladium, with Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane taking home the honor.
The first English winner since Michael Owen in 2001, Kane joins Kevin Keegan (twice), Sir Bobby Charlton, and Sir Stanley Matthews as the only Three Lions to have clinched the title of the world’s best soccer player.
Naturally, the 33-year-old’s win has drawn a plethora of mixed reactions on the airwaves and online, with plenty of people quick to congratulate the longtime Tottenham Hotspur striker, whilst many others have taken issue with Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal and Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé not taking home their first Ballon d’Ors.
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One of the U.S.’s most well-known soccer figureheads, ex-international defender Alexi Lalas, made his thoughts clear on his ‘State of the Union’ podcast, whilst also making a bold claim about where the England captain now ranks amongst the nation’s all-time greats.
“Congratulations to Harry Kane. Sir Harry Kane, I mean, and that's inevitable at some point, some point along the way,” he said.
He later added, “I think that what Harry Kane has done is a testament, obviously to his talent, but also even his calculation and foresight; to go to Bayern Munich and to not just win - something that he hadn't done in the past - but to win in spectacular ways.
“To obviously have the goals. But then, as we've talked about, to almost trans transform himself into a different type of player, and one that we talk about kind of redefining the position, but certainly the way he plays that position.
“So, I think that this is completely fair. I think it's completely just. I think the right person won for what he has done. I don't think that anybody, even players that didn't win it, can feel aggrieved or wronged.
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“I don't think any fan base out there should feel aggrieved or wronged by this. He never says anything controversial. That's kind of what Harry Kane is. This nice guy, and what I feel is the greatest English player ever to play the game, gets his just rewards.”
Kane’s win came after he managed to score 73 goals and rack up eight assists in 65 appearances for club and country last season. In the process, he helped Bayern win the Bundesliga, German Cup, and Franz Beckenbauer Supercup, while reaching the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
He also captained England throughout a memorable FIFA World Cup run this past summer, beating France 6-4 in the third-place playoff to mark their best tournament finish since winning it at Wembley Stadium in 1966.
But while Kane can now count himself amongst a select group to have been crowned the world’s best, whether or not this leads to an eventual knighthood, as suggested by Lalas, remains to be seen.