"I think it's his time." Declan Rice didn't hedge. Speaking to CBS Sports after Arsenal's 2-2 draw at Bayern on Wednesday — a match in which both he and Kane scored — Rice came out flat for his England teammate to win the Ballon d'Or on Monday in London.
Kane is the frontrunner. Him and Barcelona's Lamine Yamal are the names everyone keeps circling, and after another performance in which Kane converted a penalty, assisted Alphonso Davies' opener, and walked away with Man of the Match, it's hard to make the argument against him.
What 73 goals in a single season actually means
The case for Kane starts with the numbers and doesn't really need to go much further. In 65 appearances for club and country across the 2025-26 season, he scored 73 goals and added eight assists. Per the Bundesliga's own records, that's the second-highest single-season goal tally since the millennium — behind only Messi's absurd 2011-12 campaign. The man he's now competing with for the award.
Beyond the goals, Kane won the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal, and the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup with Bayern. He took the German Golden Boot for a third straight year and claimed his second European Golden Shoe. England reached third place at the World Cup — their best finish since 1966, the year they won the whole thing.
If he wins on Monday, he becomes just the fifth Englishman to take the award in 70 years, and the first since Michael Owen in 2001.
Henry's verdict carries weight
Thierry Henry — a Ballon d'Or runner-up himself — didn't just offer a polite compliment. He told a story. Years ago, he challenged Kane directly: the goals were there, but what about the assists, the link-up play, the complete number nine? Kane's response, according to Henry, was blunt self-awareness: "I'm not doing that enough, and I will work on it."
"I respect people that talk and deliver it," Henry said. "He did it."
That kind of endorsement from Henry matters more than most. He watched the same limitations Rice, Guardiola, and every analyst pointed to for years — and he's now saying, clearly, that Kane fixed them.
On Wednesday, Kane nearly set up a second assist with a precise goal kick that found Serge Gnabry in space, only for David Raya to deny him. The complete picture was already there without it.
Kane is 33. First Englishman to win it in 24 years. The gold trophy gets handed out Monday in London.
