Even off the ball, he displays a work ethic that you would search for in Mbappe or Yamal as desperately as for the Ballon d'Or. He sometimes defends in his own penalty area, recently even took a goal kick himself – as a centre-forward!
Kane is selfless, altruistic, a team player – and all of this in arguably the most selfish position on the field.
Perhaps not the best, but the most complete
That makes him the most complete striker of the present day.
In addition to the rather unusual abilities for a striker, the 33-year-old is world-class in the core elements. Along with Erling Haaland, he arguably possesses the best finishing in the world, is also among the world's elite in the air, and brings an enormous physical presence.
Only in one attribute does he lag behind the top strikers: speed. In recent years, Kane has consistently reached around 32 km/h, which corresponds to the average.
However, he compensates for it with his finishing and passing quality, game intelligence, technique, and mentality.
The Workhorse
He had to work hard to acquire most of these abilities.
In his early years, Kane was not a hyped top talent whose path to the top seemed predestined. At ten years old, he was released by the Arsenal academy. Watford also rejected him. So he went to his local club, Tottenham Hotspur.
"This kid, who didn't have everything at 13, taught himself so much more in the following five years," his former youth coach Alex Inglethorpe told the BBC.
This characteristic still distinguishes Kane today. His path was not linear even in his first years in adult football. Between the ages of 17 and 19, he experienced a loan odyssey – at four different clubs.
Unrealistic, right?
After instructive years, he needed another season to establish himself at Spurs. During this time, he first caught my attention in FIFA Career Mode. That must have been 2013 or 2014. Kane stuck in my mind not because he had such high potential, but because he was usually involved in strange transfers.
A 20-year-old with a rating of 67 suddenly moved to FC Bayern Munich. Kane at Bayern – completely unrealistic, right? Well, how wrong one can be.
The move paid off
In 2014/15, at 21 years old, the time had come: Kane was practically out of nowhere one of the best strikers in the league.
Nine Premier League seasons, each with at least 20 goal contributions, followed before he finally left England at 30. With the dream of winning major titles. After two league titles and a DFB-Pokal, he has now won the biggest title of his career so far with the Ballon d'Or.
One is still missing: the Champions League. But to quote Kane's words at the award ceremony: "Anything is possible with hard work and self-belief."
