Harry Kane has been one of the best players in the world over the last seven years. Nobody is denying that, other than a small minority. But a lot of people still do not consider him on the level of Drogba, Van Nistelrooy and others like them.
Given, the 27-year-old still needs to play a few more years to be undoubtedly better than them, I believe it is still a very reasonable debate now. However, this is only if you take into account that Kane has a good amount of his career left.
We’re currently nearing the end of the 2020/21 season and he is topping both goals and assists. It’s a close battle for goals, with Kane on 21 and Salah on a still-impressive 20 (Premier League).
Kane has even started incorporating sublime passing into his game, getting plenty of great assists this season. He is currently on 13 assists – two better than any of his competitors.
If we’re talking goalscoring alone, Tottenham’s star man is easily level with the best there is. He has the joint-best goals per game (0.68) equal with Henry. As well as the second-best minutes played per goal (121).
With no signs of slowing down, the England captain is still overtaking players at a rapid rate. He’s now ranked 7th in terms of goals scored in the Premier League.
Over his seven years starting for Spurs at a regular rate, Kane has scored 23 Premier League goals per season on average – meaning he may only have to complete four more seasons to top the Premier League goal-scoring list. This does depend on whether he can stay at a similar level though.
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In terms of strikers, in my opinion, Shearer and Rooney are the only ones undisputedly better than Kane currently. Objectively, Drogba, Agüero, Van Nistelrooy and Kane are around the same – purely as strikers.
Henry is definitely the most complete Premier League player. Having many attributes that he’s incredible at. But in terms of the better striker, I would take Kane. A strikers job is to score goals prolifically and Kane does just that.
Cantona is in the same bracket as Henry. He was a much more well-rounded attacker, having traits such as dribbling, speed, passing and shooting. But again, Kane is the better striker.
We also shouldn’t forget that compared to most players on the top 15 goalscorers list, Kane has had a much worse team around him.
There has been a lot of speculation relating to whether Kane will move away from Tottenham in the summer. Although there are some valid reasons for him staying, there are a plethora as to why he should leave.
Kane’s lack of trophies is the most obvious reason. He’s got no silverware over his span of being one of the best players in the world. If anything is going to result in him leaving, this will be it.
With the team having lacklustre after lacklustre performances in finals, most recently in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday and the Champions League final in 2019, it doesn’t look good for him winning one here.
Kane will also feel as though the team surrounding him isn’t good enough. The London born striker has the team on his back for most games, which can’t be the case anymore if he stays.
If Kane does move club in the summer, there will only be a few able to match the price tag set for him. The two clubs most likely to get him are Manchester City and Real Madrid.
With only a handful of quality English players that have been successful abroad, it’s improbable he’ll go to Madrid. Therefore, Manchester looks like the place Kane could move to, as long as they don’t sign Haaland.
There’s an abundance of reasons for Kane to play for City. For starters, they need a striker as Agüero is leaving come the end of the season. Secondly, he will finally fulfil his goal of winning silverware.
Kane also wouldn’t have to learn a new language to communicate with his teammates or a new culture. Lastly, it’s almost guaranteed that he will get a wage increase.
With all this in mind, would that make him the best ever Premier League striker? Man City are winning near enough everything without him, so could it be argued that a move there would simply be a move to guarantee trophies rather than proving himself.
Kane will go down as one of the best strikers in Premier League history no matter what he does.
However, I think that perhaps the only way to guarantee that he moves head and shoulders above the others, even Shearer, is to stay at Tottenham and win something here.
It’s a huge risk, but if he finishes his career at Spurs as the Prem’s top scorer and with a Premier League trophy in his cabinet, that would be success earned.
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