Arsenal legend Henry explains why Spurs’ Kane is not world class

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Former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry believes Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero is world class but Tottenham star Harry Kane is not.

Thierry Henry, assistant manager of Belgium, looks on prior to the FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifier against Gibraltar.

Thierry Henry believes that there is only one world class striker in the Premier League currently and it is not the man who has won the golden boot for the past two seasons.

No, the Arsenal legend claims that Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero is the only one truly deserving of the title, even though since the start of the 2015/16 no player has more league goals than Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane – who has scored 58 times in 74 games.

Sergio Aguero of Manchester City celebrates scoring his side’s fourth goal during the Premier League match against Crystal Palace.

“The closest to being world class, or is world class, or has been world class is Aguero because of the longevity of what he has done in the Premier League year in, year out,” Henry said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

“He’s won the league here and got to the final of the World Cup. He’s been doing it the longest so you have to give him a bit of credit. I think we sometimes bypass Aguero like he didn’t happen but we all agree that stats show he’s the best.

“The others [including Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata], I have no doubt will be. Kane himself said he’s not in that bracket yet because of the reasons I mentioned.

“For Kane, unfortunately for him, it was a short Champions League campaign with Spurs and a short Europa League. The Euros were short also for him.

“With Kane it is his team but we don’t know how good he is in terms of Europe. Aguero hasn’t won the Champions League yet but we all know he’s won the league already and it is his team.”

Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates scoring his side’s first goal during the Premier League match against West Ham United.

Henry himself scored 176 goals in the English top flight in 258 matches across two spells with the Gunners, making him the highest scoring non-English player in the division’s history.

Aguero, meanwhile, has 128 league strikes in 187 appearances and is one short of Eric Brook’s all-time scoring record for the Citizens on 176 currently.

Overall Kane has 82 league goals in 122 outings at a record of 0.67 a game, which is slightly behind Aguero on 0.68. The Spurs forward’s European record is admittedly inferior to the Argentine with 14 in 35 in comparison to 50 in 85, but then he is also five years the 29-year-old’s junior.

On the international stage Kane’s 10 in 21 caps for England also works out at a better goal per game ratio than Aguero’s 34 in 82 caps for Argentina, but again he hasn’t been around as long to play as many times.