Harry Kane heads back to North London to face Arsenal as Ballon d'Or frontrunner for Bayern Munich

Is it possible to be a quiet juggernaut? Asking for Harry Kane, who somehow is not getting the publicity of the world's best center forwards despite numbers that rival any of them.

Now through another Bundesliga weekend with a goal and a blowout win, Kane returns to North London at midweek — the other side, mind you — to resume polishing one of the most elite resumes and complete striker careers in the world.

Bayern Munich's 32-year-old English striker has 24 goals and 3 assists in 18 matches this season — no, those aren't typos — and his side has been unbeatable in every competition.

MORE — Bundesliga standings, leading scorers

In fact, Bayern have only drawn once — a Week 10 Bundesliga 2-2 draw at Union Berlin — while winning their other 17 starts.

And somehow, perhaps because Bayern have won so many Bundesliga crowns or because Kane is uncontroversial and not so flashy, the team and its talisman are flying under the radar.

Bayern Munich and Harry Kane pummeling all comers

Bayern boast UEFA Champions League wins over both Club World Cup finalists Chelsea and PSG, the latter away at the Parc des Princes.

They've beaten second place Leverkusen 3-0, third-place Dortmund 2-1, and fourth-place Leipzig 6-0.

Goals scored? 59. Goals conceded? 11. Losses? 0.

Bayern have been so lethal that two of Kane's closest rivals in the Bundesliga goals race are his teammates, as no one's within a half-dozen goals of his 14 but the six each from Luis Diaz and Michael Olise round out the top six.

Fotmob’s “top player” statistic shows half of the league's top 10 performers are members of Bayern: Kane, Olise, Diaz, Joshua Kimmich, and Tom Bischof. The American audience will note with glee that Malik Tillman is No. 10 and — by the way — he spent ages 13-22 at Bayern.

Want to run it to the top 20 performers? Welcome Konrad Laimer and Serge Gnabry. And if you want to run it to 11 like Spinal Tap, Bayern have 11 players rated in the top 42. That's an entire team — with no goalkeeper, it must be said.

That sort of depth may make the Bundesliga crown fait accompli, and make a Champions League knockout round bye the same (Although Arsenal will hope to wear out the Bavarians a bit on Wednesday in North London).

Is a Ballon d’Or in the stars for Harry Kane as his eye-popping season rivals Erling Haaland?

Bayern are the overwhelming favorites to win the Bundesliga and among the top teams in the Champions League, and Kane's England will be expected to compete for a World Cup this summer in the United States.

So, could we be witnessing the start of a first Ballon d'Or campaign for an Englishman since Michael Owen in 2001?

Let's look at the paces of the frontrunners for an award that traditionally gives goal scorers a leg up on their competition. The stats included start with August 1.

Player A: 24G+3A in 18 games for club; 5G in 5 caps for country
Player B: 18G+2A in 16 games for club; 5G+3A in 4 caps for country
Player C: 19 G+1A in 16 games for club; 13G+2A in 5 caps for country

All pretty similar, right? So why does it feel like Erling Haaland (Player C) and Kylian Mbappe (Player B) are locks for the Ballon d'Or top 3 while Kane would be a surprise? Of course that wouldn't be the case if the paces stay the same all year, but it does feel like Kane remains a bit of a dark horse in the greater football consciousness.

It would be quite ironic if Kane would win the Ballon d'Or with a club outside of England but his resume is absolutely worthy of the acclaim. For so long he was viewed as synonymous with Spurs as one with the underdogs. Now with one of the most powerful clubs in the world as it's focal point, Kane is hopefully now being seen for what he is: one of the most complete players in his generation, if not the history of the game.

Now will he show that skill set loudly at Arsenal this week?

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