Respected Spanish football expert Guillem Balague declares Harry Kane is world’s best

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Respected Spanish football expert Guillem Balague has declared Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane is the world’s best striker.

Barcelona’s Coach Luis Enrique

Barcelona boss Luis Enrique declared Luis Suarez was the best number 9 striker in the world on Saturday.

That prompted Sky Sports to compile a shortlist of the top five number 9 strikers from the top five European leagues via a social media poll.

And it included some of the biggest names in world football with Barcelona star Luis Suarez, Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema, Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Juventus striker Gonzalo Higuain as well as Spurs hero Kane.

Suarez has the most goals (24), followed by Lewandowski (22) and Higuain (21) with Kane on 19.

But the England striker had the best conversion rate with 33%, some 4% higher than Suarez.

And while most people agreed with Enrique that Suarez was the world’s best, Spanish football expert Guillem Balague surprised everyone by arguing the case for Kane.

Spanish football expert Guillem Balague

“You’ve got Luis Suarez surrounded by Neymar and Messi, you’ve got Higuain with Juventus, the best team in Italy,” Balague told Sky Sports’ La Liga show.

“You’ve got Lewandowski with Bayern Munich (and) around him fantastic players also of course and you’ve got Benzema with Cristiano (Ronaldo) and Bale etc.

“And Kane is with Spurs… Spurs who have got Dele Alli of course and Son and Eriksen etc but it’s Kane (that) is the one that is creating almost as much as scoring himself.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane celebrates

“Out of that bunch the one that is actually certainly maximising his potential and perhaps even proven to be the best in the world, is Harry Kane.”

Balague’s comments will be sweet vindication for Tottenham supporters who feel Kane is still underrated on the world stage.

A below par performance at last summer’s European Championships did not do Kane’s international reputation many favours but he wasn’t alone in that England squad.

His displays for the North Londoners in leading another title tilt this season have been superb yet again and recognition from someone like Balague, who is renowned for favouring La Liga in such debates, is high praise indeed.