In a column for kicker, Babbel waxed lyrical about Kane. "Which of this trio – Harry Kane, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe – would I not have wanted to defend against as a defender? Clear answer: Kane!" he wrote.
"He's the hardest to pin down. He's neither exceptionally fast nor does he have an extraordinary physique, and he doesn't stand out in the air either. But he has incredible game intelligence, which allows him to evade his opponents.
"It would have been easier in the past. Back then, center-backs were man-markers or even sweepers. They were allowed, and even encouraged, to track their opponents everywhere. These days, hardly any player knows how man-marking works anymore, and since the switch to 'modern zonal marking,' nobody really knows how or when to cover him."
Babbel ranked Haaland behind Kane, explaining: "For me, Haaland comes after Kane. When he uses his dynamism and gets his body in the way, I don't know where I'd be flying." Mbappe, on the other hand, is not as difficult to defend against – "if you have pace and position yourself well."
Towards the end, he was clear about whom he'd choose as his team-mate. "If I could choose one teammate from the three, I'd also choose Kane. With his defensive attitude, he's taken the whole thing to another level."