SOCCER

The perfect striker, according to Harry Kane

ESPN assigned Harry Kane with the task of creating the perfect striker using eight different attributes and surprisingly, Messi is nowhere on the list.

Jennifer BubelEnglish_AS

England’s Harry Kane was tasked with coming up with the ultimate striker by assigning one player to eight different skills:

  • Movement
  • Speed
  • Heading
  • Finishing
  • Strength
  • Dribbling
  • Link-up play
  • Work rate

Surprisingly, Kane did not mention Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, or Alan Shearer in any of the categories, but did mention Peter Crouch for the “heading” category. Indeed, Crouch is one of the players with the most headed goals in this era. Of course, he had to mention himself in at least one category, so Kane chose himself for the “finishing” category. Perhaps even more surprisingly, he chose English teammate Jude Bellingham, who is usually at the midfielder position, for the category of “work rate”.

His full list is as follows:

  • Movement: Edinson Cavani
  • Speed: Cristiano Ronaldo
  • Heading: Peter Crouch
  • Finishing: Harry Kane
  • Strength: Didier Drogba
  • Dribbling: Kylian Mbappé
  • Link-up play: Wayne Rooney
  • Work rate: Jude Bellingham