Harry Kane: is he actually world class?

That was the goal that might silence the doubters. That was the goal that proved that Harry Kane is not just a goalscorer. He is a powerhouse, a dribbler, a runner, and a shooting specialist rolled into one package and Tottenham need to take a look at themselves and count their lucky stars that this man is in their first team.



After Kane’s performance in Tottenham’s 3-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night, many have had their say on whether Kane is the player he has made out to be. There can’t be much more doubt in anyone’s mind after the past three seasons, and Wednesday night’s performance in the champions league should have got a lot of people murmuring about how good he could be.

Kane playing against PAOK in the Europa League in
2011.
Kane is 24 now, but only broke into the first team at the beginning of the 2014-15 season when he was 21. I remember him being one of those players you always saw in the reserves of the squad on video games like FIFA, and he’d occasionally come on in the 89th minute of a Europa League fixture, overshadowed by players like Emmanuel Adebayor.

Three years later, and we’ve never seen a player stamp his mark on the Premier League as well as Kane has done. There are only a handful of strikers who have scored more league goals then Kane has in the past three seasons and they are regarded as some of the world’s best – his tally of 75 is something to be admired.

Top goal scorers in Europe over past three seasons (Spokka.com)
Name
Goals
Team
1
Cristiano Ronaldo
108
Real Madrid
2
Lionel Messi
106
FC Barcelona
3
Luis Suarez
85
FC Barcelona
4
Gonzalo Higuain
78
Juventus, Napoli
5
Robert Lewandowski
77
Bayern Munich
6
Alexandre Lacazette
76
Olympique Lyonnais
7
Harry Kane
75
Tottenham Hotspur

That puts him above the rest of the Premier League’s top strikers – including Sergio Aguero, Diego Costa and Romelu Lukaku. And remember, this is an English player.

So why isn’t he counted amongst the world’s best?

Last year, Kane wasn’t even nominated for the Ballon D’or. From the Premier League, both Jamie Vardy and Dmitri Payet made the shortlist, but England’s best goalscorer was not included on the list.

The problem might be his club side.

Since Mauricio Pocchetino took over as manager of the club in 2013, he has revolutionised the side, and took them from a team who fought for Champions League places to a team who fights for the title. Unfortunately, there always seems to a team who is one step ahead of them, and Spurs are yet to taste silverware since they won the League Cup in 2008. They have a strong side, but seem to lack that killer edge that can lead a team to be domestic champions.

Kane is also England’s best striker for over almost twenty years.

Wayne Rooney never scored more than twenty-seven goals in a league season, and only Kevin Phillips and Alan Shearer have more over the same period – with Shearer’s bests of 34 and 31 both coming in forty games or more.

The facts are there and the proof, if anyone needed it, was the way he muscled off two defenders in the course of scoring his first goal on Wednesday night, before rounding a third and placing a delicious left footed strike past the goalkeeper at the near post. The power in the shot was indefensible; but it was the accuracy – on his weaker side – that really got the pundits talking.




The way he got such force on the ball with a short back lift off a left footed shot is mind boggling – but the fact that the shot actually curled in from outside the post, past a goalkeeper who didn’t even have time to adjust his position, is the outstanding bit. And that was just the end of it – the rest of the run was one Lionel Messi would’ve been proud of. Oh yeah – the second goal was scored off his weaker foot too.

One thing is for sure – if this was a player in another European League, he would be immortalised and hailed as one of the world’s best. Kane isn’t a name you see on t-shirts, he isn’t a name that people trust to score as much as other league strikers – more fantasy premier league players have picked Firmino for their team this year than our English gem.


For some, Kane still has a lot of work to do to become one of the world’s best. But for me, the arrow has finally struck. Harry Kane is world class.

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