Is Harry Kane better than Thierry Henry? Tottenham and Arsenal legends pitted against each other

The debates will rage on for as long as football goes one - is one player from this era better than a player from a bygone time? It is such a difficult question to answer, with football changing dynamic year after year and players having to contend with different issues than those in the past.

Is Lionel Messi better than Diego Maradona was? How can we really tell? Despite this, football.london decided to get involved in one of our own, involving two of London's best ever players.

When we say London, we mean to have plied their trade here; after all Thierry Henry is not from these shores, but certainly made north London his home during a sensational eight-year spell with Arsenal.

READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou can finally unleash Tottenham favourite with huge role change

READ MORE: Victor Osimhen break clause clubs as Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham transfer truth emerges

The Frenchman is widely considered as one of, if not the greatest imports the Premier League has ever seen and one of the top flight's all-time greatest players. And that cannot be argued really.

But Tottenham supporters will always throw one of their own into the mix in that regard - Harry Kane. the striker may not be in the Premier League right now, strutting his stuff in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, but he too can be considered one of the Premier League's greats.

Yet, when people talk about the Premier League's best, Kane is often a sidenote in the conversations, mainly because of his lack of trophies. Alan Shearer holds the record for the most goals, with Henry, Patrick Vieira, Eric Cantona, Cristiano Ronaldo, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs often held in the highest regard around him.

But Kane's numbers cannot be swept aside, and Spurs fans who watched him week in and week out will tell you that not everyone sees just how good the England captain is. he is not just a goal machine, there is so much more to his game.

When looking at the statistics, Kane has 322 goal contributions - goals and assists together - in 362 league games - an astonishing record. Compare that to Henry - 304 goal contributions in 334 league games - and the records are incredibly similar.

So, does Kane deserve to be talked about in the same breath as the great Henry? We asked our football.london writers to have their say...

Lee Wilmot

Thierry Henry was an incredible player. Even the most staunch Tottenham fans, like myself, can admit that. It was a joy to watch him with the football at his feet, except when he played against Spurs. I was hugely jealous of Arsenal having him.

Fast forward a few years after Henry left the Premier League to sign for Barcelona though and Spurs had their own star man in Kane. And I'll be honest, Kane gets nowhere near enough credit than he deserves for his ability.

He scores hatfuls of goals, every year, but he also links up play and provides assists and pre-assists for teammates and his passing ability is incredible. He is a leader on the pitch and while he does not have the dribbling ability that Henry had, he has the football brain.

Come the end of his career, his stats will show he was one of the world's best. Can he be considered better than Henry? I don't think so. The trophy cabinet will forever work against him in that regard. Henry has the silverware to back up his extraordinary career, whereas Kane will not - although Bayern Munich titles in the next few years will help him out. But was Henry a far superior player to Kane like many people would have you believe? Absolutely not. Just a little bit better.

Tom Canton

Look, Harry Kane is a very good striker, a world-class striker who will be appreciated for the goals he scored and not what he won… because so far there isn’t anything – that may change with Bayern Munich this season of course however. But, Thierry Henry is rightly considered the best striker the Premier League has ever seen.

Be that his technique and skill, his ability to create as well as score but to be the spearhead of perhaps the best side the league has also ever seen. Both strikers share a trait of perhaps not delivering in finals, but Henry won them.

Not only that, but when you take goal tallies for the pair, which yes lean in Kane's favour, context needs to be applied. Football 20 years on from the days of the Invincibles is simply not the same.

Defenders over the last decade have evolved; they invert, they over or underlap and they attack. Defenders at the time of Thierry Henry had one job: 'stop that man!'

Henry played and scored a ridiculous number of goals in a time where every single opponent was coached, moulded and directed toward stopping him and his fellow forwards and rarely could they ever manage it.

A World Cup, Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy are not the difference, but they are the result of Henry’s individual brilliance, collaborative instincts and ruthless ambitions in his movements throughout his career. He made the move that Kane maybe left too late, and as an Arsenal man it pained me to see Henry go; but because he did, he solidified himself among the pantheon of the game's best ever. I am not sure Kane has yet, or whether or not he ever will.

Joe Doyle

For me, it's the classic goalscorer vs player argument. Is Harry Kane a better goalscorer than Thierry Henry? Yes, I think so. Is he a better player? No.

There have been similar comparisons throughout the Premier League's history - was Ruud van Nistelrooy a better footballer than Henry? No, but I'd rather have him taking a penalty than the Arsenal legend, and I'd say the same for Kane.

That's not to do a disservice to any of these players; I put them all firmly in the world class category during their time. I love watching Kane - he's incredibly good at linking play and he may well have the best passing range of any striker I've seen. And in fairness to him, he scored a huge amount of goals in a worse team than Henry did.

But Henry had that special something that only a few have. He made defenders fear him. He could pick up the ball anywhere on the pitch and hurt teams. And say what you will about statistics, they don't get you on your feet in a stadium.

If you were lucky (old) enough to witness Henry playing live, then it's a case of recency bias vs nostalgia. But I still think Henry would be an incredible player today - at his peak, he was unstoppable.

Isaac Seelochan

Henry feels like a more legendary figure than Kane but perhaps that's because he's retired. When the Bayern Munich star hangs up his boots, I think he'll be rightly recognised as one of the three best strikers in Premier League history alongside Henry and Alan Shearer

Trophies are also a major factor, and that can't be helped when you consider the teams they both played for and the gap in quality. However, how many iconic Kane goals can you look back on? He scored a lot of them, but not many stand out to me.

Henry, on the other hand, has several to choose from, with his stunning goal against Manchester United in 2000 being the standout. In my view, Henry's peak level was higher and he deserves to be regarded as better than Kane, albeit marginally.

Kieran Horn

As a Tottenham fan having grown up watching and idolising Harry Kane, it is very difficult to look beyond him in this debate. As someone who loves football, however, it is very difficult to look beyond the brilliance of Thierry Henry, if only in clips.

Both in their own right are club legends but statistically, Kane is the more prolific goalscorer, though it is worth noting he made more Premier League appearances. Henry however, has the trophies to back up his stunning career while Kane is yet to win one major team honour.

Again though, it is extremely difficult to look beyond Kane having watched him so closely during his spell at Spurs while also having not seen too much of Henry during his peak, and for that reason, in my opinion Kane is the better striker.