‘Strange’ Harry Kane snub surprises England legend Wayne Rooney as Bayern Munich striker is billed as Ballon d’Or contender

Rooney, who saw Kane scrub his England goal record from the history books, would appear to be in favour of the 32-year-old frontman being named the best player on the planet. The Bundesliga title winner has found the target on 48 occasions through 40 appearances for Bayern this season.

He has 133 efforts in total for the German giants, from 136 games, and is being lined up for a new contract at the Allianz Arena as transfer talk is played down. Kane has offered no indication that he is looking for a new challenge.

Kane is with a club that allows him to compete for major honours at home and abroad, with a Champions League crown being chased down at present, and is posting numbers that place him alongside the global elite.

Rooney has always been a big fan of Kane and has told Press Association Sport of why he deserves to land prominent individual accolades: “He's consistent in what he's done his whole career: he's scored goals, he's created goals at both club and international level. To do it year in, year out, and he never gets mentioned for the big honours which I find quite strange.”

Kane has said of collecting a Golden Ball: “Obviously, I would love to win the Ballon d’Or. Essentially it is a team trophy that the best individual from that team wins so no matter how you do in a season unless you win the biggest competitions it is going to be a Champions League winner or a World Cup winner this time around.”

Another former Three Lions striker, Emile Heskey, told GOAL recently if Kane will become the first Englishman since Michael Owen in 2001 to win the Ballon d’Or: “He's up there isn't he, he's definitely in the discussion - especially when it comes to what he's actually done, all the goals, the goal records that he's breaking and he's definitely up there. The interesting thing is we're talking about Harry Kane being Ballon d'Or, would it have been the same if he'd have stayed in England? Probably not.”

Winning the Champions League with Bayern, ahead of leading England into the 2026 World Cup as captain of his country, would see Kane stake a serious claim for Ballon d’Or honours. He will not want to miss any games in domestic, continental and international action.

Rooney admires that mindset and does not expect it to change any time soon, even if he would like to see the fearsome No.9 wrapped in cotton wool before another quest for global glory is taken in.

Manchester United icon Rooney added: “I think such an important aspect for England is having Harry Kane fit and if he is, then he'll be a major reason why we do win it if we do. But if you go into any game and you're not fully committed to that game because you're thinking of something else then you potentially could get injured.

“Any player will tell you that you're playing for your club and when you're playing for your club, that's all that matters until that season is over then you go away with England then England take over. I don't think he'll be slowing down. Hopefully Bayern Munich have the league won quite early and [head coach] Vincent Kompany gives him a little bit of help!”

Bayern are nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table with seven games left to take in. They have a heavyweight European quarter-final showdown with Real Madrid to come, with Kane currently on international duty ahead of England’s friendly date with Japan at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday.