Joleon Lescott says Arsenal have a player who has the exact same problem as Harry Kane right now

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The Ballon d’Or has been a topic of news in football this week, with Ousmane Dembele taking home the prize.

Dembele truly deserved the award, beating Lamine Yamal to the trophy after his searing season with Paris Saint-Germain.

Arsenal had two players make the top 30 of the Ballon d’Or rankings, as Viktor Gyokeres finished 15th and Declan Rice finished 27th. 

While Gyokeres won the Gerd Muller Trophy, the wait is ongoing for an Arsenal player to win the Ballon d’Or, with no Gunner, man or woman, ever winning the trophy. 

• READ MORE: Arsenal fans are now starting to convince themselves that £6m player could win the Ballon d’Or one day

Joleon Lescott suggests Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane will never win the Ballon d’Or

The Ballon d’Or has fans thinking, who would be the most likely player from their team to top the rankings?

For Liverpool, it’s Mohamed Salah, who finished fourth and for Chelsea, it’s Cole Palmer, who finished ninth, but who is it for Arsenal?

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang once backed Bukayo Saka to win the Ballon d’Or, but, speaking after the 2025 ceremony, Joleon Lescott explained why he believes that will never happen. 

“I’m an Arsenal fan, so I’ll say about someone like Bukayo Saka, but because Saka is so consistent, so at some point he gets almost forgotten about,” Lescott said on the All Out Football podcast.

To reinforce the point he was making, Lescott likened Saka’s suspected Ballon d’Or issue to Harry Kane’s situation at Bayern Munich. 

“I don’t want to sound disrespectful, but I think also there’s an element of what you’re saying is like people don’t necessarily tune in to watch Harry Kane, like he’s not the most glamorous.

“The fundamentals of his game are ridiculously high. A bit, like Saka, but if it’s people basing it on who they want to see, it’s not going to be Harry Kane, what he’s done and what he’s achieved, and you check up after the games, and you then just see Harry Kane.”

Lescott ended his claim by saying that sometimes, consistent players like Saka and Kane are ‘taken for granted’.

To some degree, Lescott’s argument carried some weight, as it’s nothing out of the ordinary to see Saka performing week in and week out, just as it is for Kane.

Where Bukayo Saka has ranked at the Ballon d’Or

In the case of Dembele winning the 2025 edition of the Ballon d’Or, there was a real fairytale evident.

The Frenchman combatted injury, criticism and tough transfers to get where he is now, at the age of 28.

For say, Saka or Kane, the pair have maintained the highest standards throughout their careers, meaning, by Lescott’s idea, that it would take something absolutely extraordinary to see either of them win an individual prize. 

That’s not to say that Saka hasn’t been recognised at the Ballon d’Or, earning his first finish in the top 30 in 2023.

The following year, the winger finished 21st, but after the 2024/25 campaign, the Englishman wasn’t nominated.

There’s a feeling that we still haven’t seen the very best of Saka, who will be raring to make the difference this season after recent struggles with injury.