How Does Tottenham’s Harry Kane Compare Statistically to Europe’s Elite Forwards

Harry Kane has enjoyed a sensational second season of top-flight football for Tottenham Hotspur. 

After a debut campaign in which he scored 31 times in all competitions, the 22-year-old was expected to regress. 

Instead, he has hit 28 goals in 48 appearances. His overall strike rate has fallen slightly from 0.60 goals per game to 0.58, but he has set a new personal record with 25 league goals, four more than last season. 

According to Eurosport (h/t Yahoo! Sport), the Premier League ranked third of the five major European leagues in terms of goals per game in 2014-15. 

Given that context, Kane’s back-to-back 20-goal seasons are a particularly weighty argument for his inclusion in the elite category of European strikers. 

He leads the Premier League Golden Boot rankings after 36 games, having scored two more than Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and three more than Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy. 

Regardless of whether he claims that particular bauble this season, there is no doubting Kane now sits in the top echelon of strikers across Europe. 

In fact, only seven players have accrued more points in the race for the European Golden Shoe this season, and Kane is level with Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi. 

Only Barcelona’s Luis Suarez (35), Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (31), Benfica’s Jonas (31) and Napoli’s Gonzalo Higuain (30) are significantly beyond Kane across Europe’s top five leagues. Zlatan Ibrahimovic also has 34 goals in Ligue 1. 

Of course, goals alone are an insufficient measure of a striker’s quality. They represent the strength of teammates and opposition as well as other less quantifiable factors. 

Perhaps Kane’s greatest single strength is the remarkable accuracy of his shooting. He has made a powerful, low shot across goal into the far corner a trademark. 

According to Squawka, Kane’s 64 percent shooting accuracy exceeds every leading forward across Europe except Jonas who has posted an astonishing 71 percent in the Portuguese Liga. 

Ronaldo (51 percent), Higuain (57 percent), Antoine Griezmann (56 percent), Lewandowski (59 percent) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (58 percent) rank among European stars with significantly worse shooting accuracy. 

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