Harry’s well on his way to world class
CRISTIANO RONALDO, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Gonzalo Higuain, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexandre Lacazette, Robert Lewandowski.
These are the only players in Europe’s top leagues who have scored more goals than Tottenham’s Harry Kane in the last three seasons.
That list lends weight to Mauricio Pochettino’s claim that his striker is among the best in the world.
Kane has registered three hat-tricks this calendar year. He has 17 League goals from 21 appearances and five more in other competitions.
Gareth Southgate will certainly be hoping that potency continues because he needs Kane more than ever as he plans for the 2018 World Cup Finals.
It’s not so long ago that Kane was one of four almost equal options up front for England – Wayne Rooney, Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge being the others.
But those three went into this weekend’s programme with just nine League goals between them, leaving Kane to stand alone as the country’s only in-form striker.
The next best English front man is 34-year-old Jermain Defoe, then uncapped Troy Deeney and the perennially-injured Andy Carroll.
So much will ride on Kane’s shoulders for England over the next 18 months. As it will for Spurs as they try to turn trophy potential into actual silverware. The question is, is he up to the job? If you were to be picky about Kane’s scoring record, you’d point out that he scores a lot against average opposition and not so many against top sides.
Those three hat-tricks, for instance, came against West Brom, Fulham and Stoke. Only one goal has been scored against another team from the top six.
Four of his five England goals were against Lithuania, San Marino, Switzerland and Turkey. He scored against Germany, but that was a friendly. He drew a blank in all five games at Euro 2016.
That must be Kane’s next step – more goals against tougher defences in matches that really matter.
But that’s being hyper-critical. Overall, he’s proved he’s the real deal. He had no dip following his initial impact season and looks set for his third consecutive 20-goal Premier League season, aged just 23.
Ronaldo had scored 20 League goals in a season only once when he left Manchester United and Messi was 24 before he put together three 20-goal La Liga seasons.
So if Kane’s not world-class yet, there’s every chance he’s going to be.