Harry Kane opens up on Ballon d’Or hopes after eclipsing Cristiano Ronaldo goal record

Following a remarkably prolific campaign, Harry Kane has expressed his delight at being in contention for the Ballon d'Or , describing himself as "extremely proud" of his achievement.

The 33-year-old is the bookmakers' favourite to collect the honour in October after scoring 73 goals for club and country last term, beating Cristiano Ronaldo 's career-best single-season record of 69 set in 2011-12, and only being surpassed by Lionel Messi 's record 82 goals from the same season.

Should Kane claim the prize, he would become just the fifth Englishman to receive it, following Sir Stanley Matthews, Sir Bobby Charlton , Kevin Keegan and Michael Owen, and the first since Owen's success in 2001.

In an interview with Owen Hargreaves for TNT Sports , the Bayern Munich striker said: "I'm extremely proud of the season I put up, for sure.

"Not that long ago, I was that fan wanting to become a professional footballer and I am here now and winning awards and the Ballon d'Or is the same.

"Of course, now it is out of my hands, it is down to the voters and the people who decide it. The season I had was my best season by far and we'll have to wait and see."

Kane is yet to score in the Bundesliga this term across Bayern's opening two fixtures, which featured a 5-1 win over Stuttgart and a goalless draw against Schalke.

Yet despite his historic output last season, he remains driven to raise his standards.

He added: "It is a weird one because I am already focused on this season now and the next season. Can I be better? Can I improve? But I also want to appreciate what I did.

"The thing with football opinions – there are so many opinions, so many arguments for different players and people love this player because he's fast and he's got great IQ and his finishing is great.

"So I think that is what makes football special, all those debates, and the Ballon d'Or is definitely one of them. I'm happy that I am in contention."

The England captain admitted to being "amazed" to find his name alongside Messi and Ronaldo, two figures widely considered the game's greatest ever.

He added: "I grew up watching Messi and Ronaldo, the era of them just dominating and dominating.

"Obviously Messi is the only one to have scored more with 82, but even some of their other seasons, and Ronaldo's highest I think was 69.

"These are numbers that I just thought were silly, which they are. They are the two greatest of our generation and arguably of all time. So 73 goals, even for me, I am pretty amazed by that."