Bayern striker Harry Kane completes 'Cinderella story' from EFL loans to world's best player

From forgettable EFL loan spells to being crowned the best player in the world, it is no wonder Harry Kane’s former boss thinks of his Ballon d'Or win as a fairy tale.

"This is a Cinderella story we've never seen before," ex-Tottenham boss Tim Sherwood, who gave Kane his full Premier League debut, tells Sky Sports.

"He keeps breaking records, and I keep thinking, 'Are we talking about the same kid?'

"There was always a chance, because he felt like there was no ceiling - he would always just break through and go further.

"I mean, not even Harry would say he could believe it, I would suggest."

The Bayern Munich striker has become the first English Ballon d'Or winner in 25 years and just the fifth in its history.

The last English winner, Michael Owen, had a simpler route to the top, winning it aged 22 in 2001, just four years after his senior debut at Liverpool.

Kane's win has come at the age of 33, some 15 years after his senior debut on loan at Leyton Orient in League One.

"I think we have to highlight his journey," says Sherwood, who Kane thanked on stage when collecting the Ballon d'Or.

"Even when we go back to Michael (Owen), he was a superstar as a kid, and he got the opportunities at a very young age at Liverpool, which is a giant football club.

"Kane came through the hard way, really. He was a player who wasn't universally loved.

"He's not like a Max Dowman, for instance, who is a superstar at 16 years of age.

"He (Kane) struggled to get some game time and to get a manager to really, really buy into what he had."

Kane even mentioned his tough path to the top in his Ballon d'Or acceptance speech.

He said: "My journey wasn't straightforward; I didn't go straight to the top, I had to experience a lot of loan moves and fight my way to get to where I am now."

For Sherwood, it was those low-key loan spells at Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester that have turned Kane into the world's top player.

"I hear a lot of people talking about failed loans," he says, "but we never felt like that because we felt that him playing in U21 football was a waste of time.

"They were really good loans, and those loans were the reason why we've got a player like that."

Kane's 'sliding doors' moment

Kane was out in the cold at Spurs until Andre Villas-Boas' sacking, when Sherwood's subsequent arrival opened the door.

He handed Kane his first-ever Premier League start - and the then-20-year-old took his chance as he scored the opener in a 5-1 home win over Sunderland in April 2014.

"He wasn't getting anywhere unfortunately," Sherwood says. "He wasn't around the first-team squad, so I suppose it's a sliding doors moment that I managed to take over until the end of the season and I managed to give him a stage where he could perform."

And perform he has.

Kane has hit nearly 550 goals for club and country to become Tottenham's record scorer, England's all-time scorer, England's leading World Cup scorer and the top English scorer in Champions League history.

His incredible goalscoring feats hit new heights last season as he plundered 73 goals in all competitions.

Sixty-one of those came for Bayern in all competitions, 19 more than any other player in Europe's big-five leagues last season. In fact, it was the most by a player in a season since Cristiano Ronaldo scored 61 for Real Madrid in 2014/15.

For Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher, Kane's £100m move from Spurs to Bayern in the summer of 2023 has allowed him global recognition and respect.

"It's a move he needed to make," Carragher tells Sky Sports.

"I thought he might be obsessed with the Premier League goalscoring record, but he's obsessed with goalscoring records, not just that one.

"But it also gives him a great chance of winning the Champions League and being involved in Ballon d'Or selections.

"There's no way Harry Kane could've won the Ballon d'Or if he was playing for Tottenham."

'Kane is an example to all young kids'

The Bayern move has delivered the trophies Kane so desperately craved.

Despite winning three Premier League Golden Boots at Spurs and becoming their all-time top scorer, personal honours were never the aim of the game for Kane, according to Sherwood.

His trophyless career at N17 is what drove Kane to join Bayern, where he has won back-to-back Bundesliga titles and a German Cup.

"The boy loves Tottenham," Sherwood says. "He wanted to win there, but he was winning individual accolades at Spurs, and it wasn't enough for him.

"When we all grow up, we all want to be footballers, and we don't want to be footballers because we want to be rich. There are possibly some players like that now, but that certainly wasn't his motivation.

"He wanted to go to a team that could win, and he picked Bayern, and we have to say it's been a good choice."

Sherwood adds: "He's a 100 per cent team man. If I told you he would rather win the Champions League and the Bundesliga title than the Ballon d'Or for himself, that would be the truth.

"Not every player would say that, but I genuinely believe that that is the measure of the man and that's what you're talking about, and that's why he's such a dream to manage.

"The work rate and the example he shows to any young kids coming through, and to genuinely go around the houses to try and make it, and he certainly made it."

Is Kane England's greatest-ever player?

Kane continues to break record after record in Germany.

He is the fastest player to 100 Bundesliga goals, has the most goals in his first 100 Bundesliga appearances and is the fastest player to reach 100 Bundesliga goal contributions.

It is that last stat where Kane has proven he is more than just a goal scorer. His excellent vision, awareness and superb passing range make him an exquisite playmaker.

This was on show recently in Bayern's 2-2 Champions League home draw against Arsenal as Kane, who spent much of the game dropping deep, sumptuously set up Alphonso Davies for an equaliser with a pinpoint ball from inside the centre circle.

His assist ability has been on display for years, where at Spurs he claimed the Premier League Playmaker of the Season award in the 2020/21 campaign.

So, does his all-round game combined with his records and this Ballon d'Or prize make him England's greatest-ever player? Not for Carragher, who puts a fellow English Ballon d'Or winner ahead of him.

"I would still always put Bobby Charlton as the greatest England player ever," he says.

"He's won the World Cup. He's won the Champions League with Manchester United. As a midfield player, he was the leading goalscorer for a very long time for both United and England.

"I'd still always say Bobby Charlton, because right now this England team, even though it's been a golden period for us, Harry Kane and the others still haven't got their hands on a trophy, and that's what Bobby Charlton did."

Could Kane return to Spurs?

Kane, who needs just one cap to become England's most-capped player, and although there are plenty of trophies to be won, Sherwood believes there is a longer-term goal in Kane's thinking.

"I believe he will come back for that individual accolade to be the Premier League top scorer in the future, maybe in a couple of years' time," the ex-Premier League-winning captain says.

Kane is 47 goals behind Alan Shearer's all-time Premier League record of 260 goals.

"He will only come back to a team he believes can win," says Sherwood. "At the moment you're looking at Man City with the troubles they've got, so Liverpool possibly, that could be a chance for him.

"Tottenham could be in the frame if they start progressing. Manchester United could be in the frame, but they've got a long way to go to prove that they can win anything as well.

"I'm not sure it's ever going to be Chelsea or Arsenal because of the Tottenham connection.

"So, it's on a positive note for Tottenham fans if they can start progressing and you can prove to him that he can come back and he can possibly have a good chance of winning at your club as he will have at Liverpool, Man Utd and Man City - but we don't know what's going to happen with them - then there's an opportunity he might come back and see out his career where he started it."

It seems a fitting final chapter in Kane's Cinderella story.