Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football Podcast, Sam Allardyce has been discussing which English players have a chance of winning the Ballon d’Or.
We’ve not had an English winner of the Ballon d’Or for 21 years now since Michael Owen lifted the Golden Ball back in 2001, so we are fairly overdue.
With the World Cup on the horizon, a triumph in Qatar could pave the way for an English player to win the Ballon d’Or, and according to Allardyce, the player with the greatest chance of doing this is Harry Kane.
Kane for the Ballon d’Or
The ex-Bolton manager, along with Peter Reid, was asked which England player is most likely to win a Ballon d’Or.
“Kane,” Allardyce said.
“He would be the number one choice,” Peter Reid added.
“He would be the one likely to score all the goals and be the one. If England go all the way. If England go a long way in the world Cup and he’s up there with the leading scorers he’s got to be your number one contender I think,” Allardyce said.
“Lineker, he was getting hammered, but he had a World Cup and he was then the hero,” Reid concluded.
Every chance
We’ve seen it so often throughout history how a World Cup can skew a Ballon d’Or vote that year.
As talented as he was, Fabio Cannavarro was not the best player in the world in 2006, while Lionel Messi was streets ahead of Luka Modric in terms of individual brilliance in 2018.
However, that can all go out of the window in a World Cup year, and if Kane can take England to the final and win another Golden Boot, there’s no reason why he can’t go on to emulate Michael Owen and win a Ballon d’Or.
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