I’m proud to have watched some of the finest
#9s the game has ever seen. All these names mentioned are bloody good strikers and footballers but please, always reserve special praise for Luis Suarez.
When you do it for Ajax where he scored 49 goals in a season, and people say let’s see if he can do it on a bigger level, and he stepped it up to Liverpool and won the European Golden Shoe while having the highest assists in the league, and went even a notch higher to do it again at Barcelona, you’ll always have my admiration and respect.
Suarez won the European Golden Shoe in a Messi-Ronaldo era and he racked up assists too. Went to Gremio with one knee and was still as devastating. They were crying to see him leave. He scored 27 goals and 17 assists in his final year there (with one knee).
Suarez is a textbook for a #9. He’s a better footballer than anyone on that list including Kane.
But what a list.
Unpopular opinion: Harry Kane is a more complete individual player than Suárez, Lewandowski, Benzema, Agüero, Ibrahimović and Rooney.
Benzema had a legendary Ballon d’Or season, but Kane’s consistency, goalscoring and playmaking make his individual career arguably greater.
Strip away the trophies and judge them purely as players. Kane’s all-round game and sustained excellence put him above Benzema for me.