Harry Kane is 'being taken for granted' as former Premier League winner laughs off 13th-place finish in Ballon d'Or voting

Kane, who walked away from Tottenham in 2023 as the club’s all-time leading scorer, has maintained remarkable individual standards in Germany. He is a back-to-back Golden Boot winner in the German top-flight, with his overall record for Bayern standing at 98 goals through 103 appearances in all competitions. He has already found the target on 13 occasions this term - including two hat-tricks - through seven fixtures.

His historic haul of goals for England has been taken to 74 from 104 caps, with a reputation as one of the finest No.9s to ever play the game being enhanced. His exploits do not, however, always receive the recognition they deserve. That was the case again when another Golden Ball was handed out in Paris.

Reacting to Kane’s 13th-place ranking - with the 32-year-old having hit 70 Bundesliga goals through 67 appearances in the German top-flight - two-time Premier League title winner Lescott told In The Mixer podcast from Sky Bet: "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 its 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."

While being of the opinion that Kane should have finished higher in the Ballon d’Or vote, Lescott has no complaints with the overall winner. Dembele - who has joined an exclusive club of Golden Ball, Champions League and World Cup winners - fended off competition from Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal to land the most prestigious of awards.

Lescott said of the France international forward, who helped Paris Saint-Germain to three trophies in 2024-25, being given that nod: “Ousmane Dembele’s record from the turn of the year is insane. He's found the perfect coach for him. You have to respect the manager for [his work out of possession] because that is not something you teach. Something has to convince you that is what is needed.”

Another player that former Everton and Manchester City defender Lescott has been impressed with is current Liverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch. The Netherlands international struggled to make the expected impact at Bayern Munich, but the ex-Ajax star is thriving at Anfield.

Lescott said of the 23-year-old, who has made the No.6 spot his own in Arne Slot’s title-winning squad on Merseyside: "There's an argument for [Gravenberch being the best number six in the world right now] because of his contribution, goals and assists and he's been in a title winning team. He was arguably their best player last year, so he definitely should be considered. If you're one of the best in any position in the Premier League, you are going to be considered the best or one of best in the world.

"I like [Moises] Caicedo – he’s top, but Gravenberch controls the game, he's able to control how they attack, sustain attacks where Caicedo doesn't have that ability in my opinion, just yet."

Gravenberch has helped Liverpool to make a faultless start to their 2025-26 campaigns in the Premier League and Champions League. They already hold a five-point lead at the top of the English top-flight table.

Dembele is nursing an injury that he picked up on international duty, ruling him out of PSG’s immediate plans, while Kane remains in red-hot form for Bayern and will be looking to enhance his goal tally when Vincent Kompany’s side play host to Werder Bremen on Friday.