Harry Kane: How Tottenham striker has drawn comparisons to Diego Maradona, Francesco Totti and Andrea Pirlo
Harry Kane has four assists in his last six Premier League games as he continues to drop deeper to become Spurs' chief playmaker under Antonio Conte; watch Aston Villa vs Tottenham live on Sky Sports Premier League from 5pm on Saturday Night Football; kick-off 5.30pm
Saturday 9 April 2022 18:01, UK
In the last week, Harry Kane has been compared to Diego Maradona, Francesco Totti and Andrea Pirlo in what is a glowing recognition of his evolving role at Tottenham.
Kane has four assists in his last six league games as he becomes Spurs' chief playmaker under Antonio Conte, displaying a vision and a passing range that is rivalled only by Kevin De Bruyne, according to Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher.
Such is Kane's creative influence from deep, Wayne Rooney believes he can break the all-time Premier League assist record.
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"He can play as a nine, he can play as a 10, he's an incredible player," Rooney told Monday Night Football.
"He wants to get the goalscoring record - I think he wants to get the assist record as well, and I think he's capable of doing it."
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Kane has got some way to go, though, to beat Ryan Giggs' Premier League record of 162 assists, with the England captain on 40 assists. But Kane is trending in the right direction having assisted 20 Premier League goals since the start of last season.
The most recent of which came in Sunday's 5-1 home win over Newcastle as he provided the cross for Matt Doherty's goal to give Spurs the lead.
Watching on at the weekend for Sky Sports was David Ginola, and he had the highest of praise for Kane following his supreme passing display against Eddie Howe's side.
"The new playmaker at Spurs is Harry Kane," the former Tottenham attacker said. "He is like the new Diego Maradona now. Long passes, short passes, he has it all."
Rooney, meanwhile, compared Kane to another World Cup winner on Monday Night Football.
"It's almost like Totti when Totti was at Roma," the Derby County boss said. "Roma used to play this way and Totti would come deep, and they had runners running beyond him.
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"I think he's [Kane's] done that [dropped deeper] off his own back over the last couple of seasons. I think Conte has gone in and he's worked on it."
Spurs will certainly be hoping Kane follows in Totti's footsteps by remaining a one-club man, after the Italian spent his entire career at Roma.
But, for Carragher, Kane reminds him of another Italian architect.
"What I was thinking about watching him [against Newcastle], it was almost like watching Pirlo," he said on Monday Night Football.
"He was coming that deep in midfield, and it's not always about getting an assist, but it's playmaking from that deeper role."
But if Pirlo, Totti and Maradona are comparisons from past eras, then Tottenham team-mate Hugo Lloris had a couple of modern-day equivalents for the evolving Kane.
"The way he plays, during the past few years, he drops more often and gives more space to the players around him," the Spurs skipper told Premier League Productions last month.
"In the way we play, under Antonio Conte, the number nine position is very important. It can demand the ball in space, but also has this interference to drop. Then, in one touches or two touches to change the game, from one side to the other side.
"I think this is the evolution of Harry. A little bit like Karim Benzema used to do or (Roberto) Firmino used to do. But that belongs to the best players."
Kane's passing analysed
Sky Sports' Adam Smith:
The fact Kane finished top of the goal and assist charts last season epitomises the England striker's growing utility, while the graphic below highlights his potency: creating a league-high 14 assists from nearly half the number of chances created than the likes of Bruno Fernandes.
Expected assists, a metric which measures the number of assists the average player would carve out from identical positions, predicts he should have created just shy of four - some 10 fewer than his total. This disparity suggests Kane has the ability to conjure something from nothing, and does it regularly.
A slow start to this campaign after his failed move to Manchester City last summer skews his revival under Conte since November - but the goals and assists have flowed since the Italian arrived: his goal ratio has quadrupled and his assist returns have doubled.
That assist for Heung-Min Son against Leeds was simply exquisite, and the passing masterclasses keep coming to complement his world-class finishing - prompting fans and pundits alike to draw comparisons with the world's all-time elite.
The debate about whether Kane has dropped too deep has raged for some time and the heat maps below clearly reveal the evolution of his role at Spurs - but the 28-year-old has certainly silenced the critics with league-topping numbers.
"It comes down to different managers, different ways of playing," Kane told Sky Sports after the home win over Everton last month. "You see over the last few years, since (Jose) Mourinho, and now Conte, my game has changed a little bit, in terms of dropping into those pockets.
"I played as a No 10 when I was a youth-team player, so I've always been used to playing that attacking-midfield role and I always back myself looking forward and passing forward."
The passing-range graphic below reveals the England captain has already notched four assists fired beyond 25 metres, with the assist at Leeds registering close to 50m - but distances alone fail to quantify the sheer pinpoint precision.
In terms of locations, the map below suggests Kane's most potent passes come from raking balls in centre-right areas, but he also switches play frequently, from one side of the opposition box to the other.
While his passing is often pinpoint, his locations are far harder to nail down with passes across the width of the pitch, only notably taking up more central positions when in his own half.
Meanwhile, his distribution directions reveal a primary intention to pass forwards, with a greater degree of accuracy when angling distribution to his right.
Of course, it is hard to gauge the quality of passes on paper, but league-high returns for assists last season and a ratio of one assist every four league games under Conte this term, while functioning as the club's focal point up top, is nothing short of remarkable.
Indeed, Kane ranks eighth in the Premier League for long-pass accuracy out of outfield players who have attempted 50 or more long balls this season - ahead of De Bruyne, who is widely considered the best passer in the division.
Tottenham's remaining fixtures
April 9 - Aston Villa (a), live on Sky Sports
April 16 - Brighton (h)
April 23 - Brentford (a), live on Sky Sports
April 30 - Leicester (h)
May 7 - Liverpool (a)
May 12 - Arsenal (h), live on Sky Sports
May 15 - Burnley (h)
May 22 - Norwich (a)
Watch Aston Villa vs Tottenham live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 5pm on Saturday; kick-off 5.30pm
