In the 2025/26 season, we saw Harry Kane put up one of the best season-long performances of all time. The Englishman put up a jaw-dropping 73 goals and eight assists in 65 appearances for club and country, in a season only comparable to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in their era of dominance.
Kane's 25/26 season actually surpasses any of Cristiano Ronaldo's best goal-scoring seasons, with his highest being a 69 goal campaign at Real Madrid in the 14/15 season. When comparing the two great goal-scoring seasons, one of Harry Kane's coaches, who has also worked with CR7, took the opportunity to compare the two talents.
While speaking with The Athletic (via iMiaSanMia on X), Thomas Tuchel's assistant, Anthony Barry, gave Harry Kane the ultimate seal of approval, a comparison to Cristiano Ronaldo, going so far as to say the Englishman is better in one aspect of his game: ball striking. Barry went on to say:
"He [Kane] is the best ball striker I have ever worked with, better than all the great finishers I have ever worked with. Cristiano and all those players. You say it is phenomenal but I would say it’s just normal in terms of Harry. What you see in the warm-up. The repetition of the ball strike, the clarity. It’s simply a level I have never experienced, with both feet"Anthony Barry
Is Harry Kane really on the level of Cristiano Ronaldo? He might not be too far off
Barry worked with Cristiano Ronaldo at the Portugal National Team in March 2023, before leaving in April 2023 to join Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich, and has stuck with Tuchel at the England National Team. He's spent an extended period of time with some of the best finishers the game has seen, like Cristiano and Romelu Lukaku, but for him, Harry Kane trumps them all.
We all know how great Cristiano's ball striking is; he popularized the knuckleball free kick technique for this generation and has scored incredible goals from distances no normal striker would even try. However, Barry may have a point; Kane really isn't that far off. In his time at Bayern, we've seen the Englishman score some incredible goals, with incredible technique, so while many critique him for being a "tap-in merchant", when looking at him as a player, he is one of the most complete strikers the game has seen.
At 34-years-old Kane is still at the top of his game and doesn't look to be slowing down any time soon. He's already grabbed six goals and two assists in seven appearances for Bayern, as well as six goals and one assist for England this international break. Given the generation Harry Kane plays in with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Kylian Mbappe, he kind of falls into the shadows, but in actuality is one of the best and most underrated players of this generation.
Add us as a preferred source on Google