6 Mar 2017

Gerrard raves: 'World-class' £60m striker reminds me of Liverpool legend 'Robbie Fowler'

Reds legend Steven Gerrard has compared the Premier League's top goalscorer with one of Liverpool's revered strikers of the past.

Speaking to BT Sport over the weekend, Gerrard tipped Spurs striker Harry Kane to win this season's Golden Boot, and drew a comparison with one of Liverpool's greatest ever goalscorers:

"I’m a big fan of Harry Kane. He reminds me of Fowler in his pomp. He has a bit of selfishness in him that I like in a striker".

I'll probably be in the minority here, but I don't see what all the fuss is about. Kane is undoubtedly a good Premier League goalscorer, but so are Jermain Defoe, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, both of whom are in their mid-30s.

As is usually the case with any British player who displays a modicum of talent, Kane is being grossly overpraised, and labelled as 'world-class', but that (undeserved) label that just shows the insular nature of British pundits, press, and coaches.

In the typically overwrought buildup to to Euro 2016, the media portrayed Kane up England's brightest hope, but predictably, he crashed and burned, and failed to make any discernible impact whatsoever. Yet, 7 months later, Kane is being hailed as 'world-class' because he's scored some goals in a league with the (arguably) the worst set of central defenders since the early '90s.

In my view, Kane is not world-class, and the same applies to Delli Alli, the other wunderkind du jour currently being positioned by the media as England's 'next big thing'. Scoring goals in the Premier League doesn't make a player world-class, and neither Kane nor Alli can achieve that status until they've excelled - i.e. had a specific, measurable impact - at all three levels of football: Domestic, European, and International.

Kane has proved himself in the Premier League (albeit only for a couple of seasons), but both he and Alli have done nothing in Europe, or on the international stage, and until they actually dominate games (i.e. push their team to relative success) at those levels, they cannot be considered 'world-class'.

On a related note, using the above criteria, Liverpool do not have a single world-class player. Sadio Mane possibly comes closest, but he hasn't yet proven himself in European competition.

As for Kane vs. Fowler: I'd take Fowler in his prime any day of the week.

* Kane: £60m-rated



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