Clive Allen thinks Harry Kane deserves this year’s Ballon d’Or and expects Tottenham’s current attacking options to find their scoring touch before long.
Kane is among the frontrunners for the award next month after a standout campaign that saw him net 73 times for club and country. His main rivals are 19-year-old World Cup winner Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappe, both of whom scored considerably less than Kane at club and international level, though Mbappe did become the World Cup’s all-time top scorer with 22 goals.
Allen, Tottenham and England’s former striker, argues Kane’s numbers over the past few seasons put him above anyone else in contention, saying the award has always gone to players who’ve achieved something exceptional — and by that measure, nobody compares to Kane right now.
Tottenham runs deep in Allen’s family history. His father Les featured in the club’s double-winning 1960/61 side, his cousin Paul was a teammate of his at the club, and his brother Bradley now coaches the academy’s U18s. Allen describes his connection to the club as something he was essentially born into, crediting his father’s title-winning team as the best Spurs side there’s ever been, and says he still feels that history running through him.
He spoke about how much he values his ongoing role at the club — having played, coached and managed there, and now working matchdays alongside former players and contributing to SpursPlay, the club’s in-house media platform. Despite a difficult start to the season, he’s optimistic the squad has enough quality to turn things around.
With Tottenham currently propping up the Premier League table after five games, Allen pointed to the experience the club’s new arrivals bring, noting they’ve all played and understood what’s required in the league before. He believes the frustration of a poor start will fuel them, and that the quality within the squad will eventually show.
Allen speaks from experience when it comes to finding the net for Spurs — he scored 82 goals in 135 appearances for the club, including 49 in the 1986/87 season alone, a return that earned him the PFA Player of the Year award. He’s convinced the current squad’s struggling forwards just need that first goal to unlock their form, recalling how crucial an early season goal was for his own confidence as a player, and predicting the same lift will come for Tottenham’s strikers once they start scoring.
