Harry Kane

Shearer was better in the air. Better long distance shooter. Way better Free Kick taker (Kane's free kicks are abysmal). And potentially better holdup play. Except Free Kicks, Kane is great at all of this too.

Kane is a way better passer and had better linkup play.

Shearer is actually so underrated. For reasons similar to Kane actually.

Anyway, unlike some, I don't rate players solely by 'how many goals they score in arbitrary moments or rounds of the CL' which is subject to so many factors, like luck and moments.

I rate them by how good they are at playing football consistently over many years and Kane is in the elite strikers of all time list in that department for me. How many numbers 9s have you seen who can pass like him and link play like him? Even the best striker ever for me - R9 - couldn't pass like Kane. And R9 is an underrated passer.

I mean he might 'bottle it' in a latter round of the CL, but that doesn't lessen his ability.

Kane still has a World Cup Golden Boot (even if he was mostly underwhelming and it was mostly penalties) anyway. And a good list of scoring and being MOTM against top PL teams.

Just to be clear - I am not trying to slag off Lewandowski - he's been a brilliant striker, like Kane.

I am just saying, any criticisms of Kane at Bayern apply just as much if not more so to him. As do the big game shouts, as he hasn't got that many at club level either, to be honest. In fact I don't think he could play as well against the top English teams in the PL for Tottenham as Kane did - even in his prime.

Just a bit jarring to see te amo barca not call out Lewandowski for the same stuff he's criticising Kane for, as Robert's name was directly mentioned in the post he replied to.

And bringing up Shearer made no sense, imo, for the reasons Tyler and I have alluded to. Just seems to be brought up because - like Kane prior to Bayern move - he's English, played in the PL, and is seen as more of a 'PL local legend' than one of the all-time greats. Which I'd suggest is harsh on Shearer (despite the weaker era of the PL he played in). He was brilliant at Euro 96 for example, coming into the tournament not scoring for England for something like two years.

Temptation said:

Shearer was better in the air. Better long distance shooter. Way better Free Kick taker (Kane's free kicks are abysmal). And potentially better holdup play. Except Free Kicks, Kane is great at all of this too.

Kane is a way better passer and had better linkup play.

Shearer is actually so underrated. For reasons similar to Kane actually.

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That's all true, and Shearer was a brilliant striker too. I don't think he's underrated, though - many prefer him to Kane when his name comes up. And even though they had a cash injection under Jack Walker, Shearer was sensational at Blackburn, especially in SAS with Chris Sutton and being fed up Stuart Ripley and Jason Wilcox from the wings.

He was fantastic too, and what you mentioned is correct - better in the air and from long distance. Hold up play is much of a muchness.

The point is these players are the elite - Kane, Lewandowski, Shearer - so you can twist it either way to prove someone is better than another.

It's like Messi and Ronaldo - the only reason I think Ronaldo doesn't come close to Messi or Maradona is those two are aliens. It's not because Ronaldo isn't a brilliant player himself.

Just because I am advocating for Kane here, doesn't mean that Shearer and Lewa aren't among the best ever either.

I'd say Kane, Lewa and Shearer are all in the top 20-25 strikers of all time by anyone's measure. And, for plenty, some would be much higher than that. But that's a bare minimum. Though, tbf, maybe not as simple as it seems as there's a lot of great strikers in history.

In fact, this seems as relevant a thread as any - anyone wanna have a go at making a top 25-30 strikers (number 9s not wide forwards) of all time list (in no particular order)?

We have to bear in mind there are some forgotten players from history who we might not name.

I have my own thoughts and opinions, but would like to see other people's lists. See if there is a consensus on maybe the first 15, then it starts to deviate.