Harry Kane looks ahead to October | OneFootball

Harry Kane looks ahead to October – with the Ballon d'Or in his home city London, the mouth-watering clash against Arsenal and new territory on artificial turf in Stavanger.

Interview with Harry Kane

Harry, the Ballon d’Or will be awarded in October. Your team-mates and the FC Bayern management have publicly expressed their support for you. What do you think about that? “That makes me proud. I really appreciate how my colleagues and the club are getting behind me. We work extremely hard together and I work as hard as possible for the team. It’s really pleasing that they support me so much – I can only thank them for that.” 

The award ceremony is taking place in London for the first time. What would it mean to you to win the Ballon d’Or in your home city – as the first Englishman since Michael Owen in 2001? “It’s obviously special for me that the ceremony is taking place in London. I come from London and lived there for a long time – maybe that’s a good omen. An English player hasn’t won it for over 20 years, even though there have been a lot of great English players in that time. The Ballon d’Or would be a massive success for me, but at the moment I’m concentrating on performing again this season.”

You briefly played for Arsenal as a youngster and then spent many years at their arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur. Are Arsenal still special opponents for you? “I don’t know, the media make this story bigger before the game than it is for me. Arsenal are a strong team and I had a lot of great battles against them over the years. Obviously it feels a bit different with Bayern than it did then with Tottenham. Obviously I can’t completely ignore this background, but I’ve also played against Arsenal with Bayern a number of times now. The main thing for me is doing my job and winning the game.”

You play against Viking in Stavanger in October – a first for you there. Do you keep track of all the countries, cities and stadiums in which you’ve played? And do you keep souvenirs from particular games? “Not routinely, but I have a good memory of teams and places. I mostly keep shirts from games in which I achieved a milestone. I’ve only rarely swapped jerseys in my career: once with Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid and once with Wayne Rooney at Manchester United. The experiences are more important than the shirts for me, though.”

You’ll be playing on artificial turf in Stavanger. How do you prepare for that – and how must you adapt? “We won’t change our playing style. The last time I played on artificial turf was in 2017 with England in Lithuania. You have to get used to the surface quickly; it’s a bit heavier on your knees and ankles. But with the right boots, it shouldn’t be an issue. It’s good that we’re playing there in the autum and not the winter, otherwise the difference would be greater.”

Excerpts taken from an interview in FC Bayern Magazine 51.