Tottenham striker Harry Kane continues to prove he is priceless after banging in a Champions League hat-trick
SunSport columnist reckons market is rewarding entertainment ahead of industry - making the England sensation a prize possession
IT DID not even need a hat-trick from Harry Kane in the Champions League to remind us he is a killer striker.
His Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said after he scored against us last week at the London Stadium: “I am in love with him.”
To Pochettino, his lean, mean, scoring machine is priceless and not only for his instinct to be in the right place at the right time to complete the task for which football exists.
Only a few elite clubs could afford the fee for this young man with the traditional values of hard toil and working-class commonsense.
There is a sliding scale on transfer fees — below successful strikers are the creators, then central defenders, followed by reliable midfielders, with full-backs and keepers, as you might expect, at the back.
I’ve long felt that goalkeepers are under-valued.
No team without an outstanding player there will achieve very much.
We regard bad misses in front of goal as one of the perils of the game.
Latest Tottenham news
But when a 20-yard smackeroo bursts through a packed defence into the top corner, you know you’ll hear some scholar of the game moan: “He should have kept that one out.”
Some of us thought Manchester United’s £89million for midfielder Paul Pogba and City’s £50m for right-back Kyle Walker were signs the market pecking order was levelling out.
Then up popped Paris Saint-Germain to splash out £360m on forwards Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. The old order had readjusted.
Entertainment was again rewarded ahead of industry. Clean sheets are loved by coaches, football educators and teams who can’t score.
I guess that’s why so many people like to watch Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool — they are full of swashbucklers.
Even Daniel Sturridge, perhaps the only English striker with Kane’s talent, is seen far more often in one of those comfy seats that have replaced the old-style bench than on the field.
And here we come to the missing rungs in the fee ladder, hinted at by the Walker price.
Boss Pep Guardiola’s blueprint for City demanded full-backs who could outflank opposition defences with speed and then cross.
The nearest at hand was Walker and Spurs relished the idea of pocketing £50m for him.
While Klopp turned down more than £100m from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho, a creator-scorer, I think he would be happy to spend a chunk of that on a centre-back to transform his leaky defence.
We pay managers well to spend well. Buying Neymar or Kane is as easy as a bulging bank account — finding a defender who is an exact fit is a superior skill.
The FA announced that from next season the top tier of English women’s football will be only for full-time clubs.
West Ham will be applying for a licence, in line with our policy for equality and inclusion.
We brought the ladies’ team in house so we could treat them as an equal part of the club.
I am thrilled we have ladies’ teams from under-tens to the first team, exactly as we do with the men’s teams. These are exciting times.
