Harry Kane, Spurs legend, England star and one of the greatest goalscorers of his generation.
That was Kane 1.0.
During the course of the 20/21 season, Kane has refined his game to become even more devastating. Now he not only scores prolifically but also creates with incredible consistency — he’s providing the goals of Agüero and the assists of De Bruyne on one player.
In this article, we look at how Kane 2.0 has developed into the complete attacker, assessing how he started the season, tweaked his game and is now outperforming the GOAT.
He began the 20/21 season as the EPL’s best finisher
He was outscored by Mo Salah in 17/18, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in 18/19 and Jamie Vardy in 19/20, but Harry Kane still started the 20/21 season as the EPL’s best finisher.
Because even though he hasn’t topped the scoring charts since the 16/17 season, Kane is the attacker you’d bet on over all others to put the ball in the back of the net.
The evidence bears this out too.
Kane started the season as the bookies favourite to win the golden boot and he’s still right in the mix as far as key sports betting sites are concerned.
He’s currently (as of March 15) a 2/1 bet at 888 casino, 7/4 wager at Mr Green casino and a 2/1 venture at Bet365. All of this while playing under a manager (José Mourinho) who’s renowned for defensive football.
But Kane is no longer just the best finisher. He’s also the favourite to top the assists chart, after reinventing his role by going back to his roots.
He reinvents his role by going back to his roots
Though it won’t come as news to many Spurs followers, it might surprise some football fans to know Harry Kane began his career not as a dead-eyed striker but as a grafting midfielder.
He first played as a holding midfielder for Spurs in his academy days, before switching to an attacking midfield role and eventually moving upfront.
Kane himself believes he isn’t a traditional number 9.
The Spurs attacker told Sky Sports, one of the UK’s biggest sports channels, that: “I played as a number 10 my whole youth team career”.
He added that “I have always seen myself as a mix between a 9 and a 10. That has just been more evident this year because the final product has been that little bit better”.
It’s clear then that Kane has always had in his locker to be the complete attacker. What’s different this year is he’s offering lots of goals and lots of assists, contributing more to his team per game than the GOAT.
He becomes more productive than Messi
Whatever your stance on the argument of who out of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or another player is the GOAT, it’s clear that Messi is the modern benchmark for goal contributions.
We reviewed Messi’s and Ronaldo’s stats on Transfermarkt, a highly respected football stats site, to find out how many goals/assists the two players have contributed per game over their careers.
This is what we found:
Messi:
- Games: 766.
- Goals: 659.
- Assists: 289.
- Total contributions: 948 — 1.24 per game.
Ronaldo:
- Games: 883.
- Goals: 668.
- Assists: 227.
- Total contributions: 895 — 1.01 per game.
These are incredible stats for both players but it’s clear Messi is the one to beat when it comes to being the complete attacker. This makes it all the more impressive that this is exactly what Kane is doing right now.
At the time of writing, this is how Kane compares to Messi during the 20/21 season:
Kane:
- Games: 38.
- Goals: 26.
- Assists: 16.
- Total contributions: 42 — 1.11 per game.
Messi
- Games: 35.
- Goals: 25.
- Assists: 11.
- Total contributions: 36 — 1.03 per game.
There are plenty of games left to play in the 20/21 season but right now Kane is outperforming the master.
Kane began the 20/21 season as a goal fiend. The most reliable scorer in the EPL and someone who just might threaten Alan Shearer’s goalscoring record.
As the campaign has developed, Kane has reinvented his role by going back to his midfield roots and the results speak for themselves
Because if he’s contributing more goals per game (as a scorer and provider) than Messi then there can be no argument that Kane is the complete attacker.
