Erik ten Hag was praising a prolific centre-forward. Which, in itself, meant he was not talking about a current Manchester United player. Marcus Rashford has scored 28 times this season, but his preferred position is coming off the left flank. Anthony Martial has seven goals: the damning statistic, however, is not that none have come in his last four outings but that, as May beckons, he has still only started seven league games. Wout Weghorst has two goals, neither in the Premier League.
Instead, Ten Hag was speaking about Harry Kane and of his admiration for a player who, in most other seasons or a world without Erling Haaland, would be on course for the Golden Boot. Kane has 24 league goals in a mediocre Spurs side, a record 274 for Tottenham Hotspur and a record 55 for England. His excellence extends beyond the total, however, as the Dutchman said.
