Kane, Son, Conte represent Tottenham in ESPN FC Top 100

In a week already full of disappointment, and after the Ballon d’Or disrespected Tottenham’s dynamic duo with Hary Kane finishing in 23rd place and Heung-Min Son not cracking the top 30, both players had respectful positions in ESPN FC’s top 100. 

This is the sixth year of the rankings from the American sports network, where they break down the 100 into ten top-10 lists for nine positional categories and coach. For Tottenham Hotspur, this meant representation from two players and the club’s new coach.

Several former Spurs on the Top 100 list

The nine positions are goalkeeper, right-back, centre-back, left-back, central midfield, attacking midfield, winger, forward, and striker. Spurs were blanked in the first seven positions, although a couple of former Spurs – Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier – both made the grade at right-back adding in fifth and seventh in the top 10. Also, Luka Modric was in the 8th position for central midfield.

Tottenham represent: Kane a striker, Son a forward

With the positions the way ESPN slotted them, Son and Kane were not competing for a spot in the squad, rather Son was in the forward category whereas Kane was considered a striker. Ultimately, if you look at who finished in front of each of them, ESPN FC may have gotten it kind of right.

Only icons in front of Son

The players on the list ranked in front of Son are a whose-who list of football icons. Lionel Messi topped this group, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo. As good as Son was last season – and he was darn good – he was not better than Messi or Ronaldo.

Behind the two best players of the last twenty years, ESPN had Kylian Mbappe (3), Mohamed Salah (4), and Neymar (5), with Son, ranked sixth behind Neymar but ahead of Memphis Depay and Kai Havertz, were seven and eight on the list.

If we were trying to come up with a list of wide forwards who are better than Son, ESPN nailed but of course that is not good enough for a top 30 slot in the Ballon d’Or but I digress.

Kane is in good company on the striker list

Harry Kane may have only been 23rd for the Ballon d’Or but ESPN recognized Spurs talisman had a pretty remarkable season. Robert Lewandowski was of course ranked number 1 with Erling Haaland in second, repeating as the top pair from ESPN’s 2020 list. Karim Benzema was third for the second year running, then Romelu Lukaku snuck in front of Kane at fourth as the two swapped places from the 2020 list.

Lewandowski, Haaland, Benzema, and Lukaku, certainly the first names, along with Kane someone would come up with if building a team around a frontman. All the players in front of Kane had gaudier statistics but we all know Kane plays in the toughest league in the world and last season he was simply unplayable for large stretches as he redefined the position.

The third Tottenham inclusion should help the first two and others climb the 2022 rankings.

The somewhat surprising third member of Tottenham Hotspur to make the top 100 was new manager Antonio Conte. After not being in the top 10 last season, Conte’s success with Inter winning their first Scudetto in a decade landed Conte in the 5th spot. Behind only Jurgen Klopp, Roberto Mancini, Pep Guardiola, and Tomas Tuchel; clearly Conte is well regarded in America too.

ESPN noted Conte’s passion and his ability to motivate players as key to his style. If Conte can have the same impact on Tottenham over the next 12 months as he did on Inter and Chelsea before, he, Kane, and Son will all be a bit higher next season and maybe, just maybe some people in France will recognize it too.