Chris Waddle compared Tottenham striker Harry Kane to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on BBC Radio 5 Live by pointing out that they are players who don’t rely on their pace.
The former England playmaker shared that, just like Messi and Ronaldo are doing, Tottenham’s main man will play ‘well into his 30’s’ because ‘they have got other attributes’ to their game and they don’t have to ‘rely on certain things’.
Whilst Messi and Ronaldo are blessed with blistering speed, Kane has been more of a power runner and he isn’t someone who is going to front an opposition player up and take him on.
But Waddle was sharing his thoughts on Kane as a striker in today’s game and comparing him with other players from around the world.
“You mention the players there and he’s not like any of them,” said Waddle. “Giroud is an old-fashioned target man. Mbappe is just a speed machine, can go wide, likes to run down the channels and can do everything.
“Harry knows what he is good at. He has never been blessed with great pace. I wouldn’t say he is slow but he’s not electric. As I said earlier, he’s not the best in the air. But it’s his football brain that gets him into areas which centre-backs don’t like to mark, he drags people out of the way, he’s very intelligent and he can pull people out of the way in terms of allowing midfield players to run past.
“When you look at Mbappe, he’s a great player but what happens when he loses his pace? Eventually, he will. Does he become a great player then? People like Ronaldo and Messi haven’t relied on it. They have got pace but they don’t rely on it because they have got other attributes.
“Harry has got other attributes where he doesn’t rely on certain things. So, he can play on as long as his body will carry on and he doesn’t get a lot of injuries, he can play well into his 30’s because he is a footballer and he has a football brain.”
When it comes to individual records for both club and country, Kane will smash most things before him, including becoming the all-time records goalscorer in the Premier League and for England.
But the question that will be put to the Spurs man is whether he can put medals around his neck for either his current club or elsewhere.
Alan Shearer, who Kane has been likened to during his career, is the Premier League’s record goalscorer but he has won the title with Blackburn Rovers.
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