Three young strikers all born in 1993 are grabbing headlines for their prolific and in some cases unexpected goal scoring tallies this season in the Premier League: Saido Berahino, Romelu Lukaku, and Harry Kane.

The group of 21-year-old forwards have all scored six or more goals, with Berahino leading the way with nine. Berahino’s performances for West Bromwich Albion in particular have caught the attention of other clubs amidst rumours of a possible departure from the Hawthorns.

However, despite their similar goal scoring records this season a closer look at their underlying statistics suggests that Tottenham’s Harry Kane is a step above the rest.

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Although Berahino has scored more than the others, three of his nine goals are from the penalty spot. So despite scoring at a rate of 0.49 goals per 90 minutes, he is only averaging 0.33 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes. Non-penalty goals tend to be a much better measure of a player’s actual goal scoring ability than just goals.

Berahino also contributes much less to his team’s overall attack than the other players considered. He averages less than one key pass (a pass leading to a shot) per 90 minutes.

This is reflected in his Weighted Chances Created Plus (wCC+) rating, a statistic that compares a player’s attacking contribution in terms of shots, key passes and goals to the rest of the players in his position. A player whose attacking contribution is at the league average for his position will have a wCC+ of 100.

Berahino’s wCC+ this season is 97.64, which means that he actually contributes less to his team’s attack than the average forward.

Out of the three strikers being compared Berahino is probably the player attracting the most attention on the transfer market right now, but his underlying statistics are much less impressive than the nine goals would immediately suggest.

One of the best ways to visualize Berahino’s overall contribution is using player radars developed by soccer analyst Ted Knutson.

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As the radar shows, outside of the goals themselves Berahino hasn’t contributed much else.

Lukaku came into this season with much higher expectations than either Berahino or Kane. Lukaku scored 15 goals in 2013-14 with Everton and 17 the previous season with West Brom. Comparatively his six goals so far this campaign seems a little lackluster.

His player radar compares favourably to Berahino, but has a lot of similar characteristics.

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Lukaku has slightly more successful dribbles per 90 minutes and takes more shots per 90 minutes than Berahino, but otherwise hasn’t contributed a whole lot more. Lukaku’s wCC+ of 102.04 puts him just above average among Premier League forwards, but still not up to the high standard he had set in previous seasons.

In the cases of Berahino and Lukaku the goal-scoring records are slightly misleading. Despite scoring nine and six goals respectively they don’t actually stand out that much from other forwards in the Premier League.

On the other hand Harry Kane—the upstart Tottenham striker—appears to be the real deal.

Kane made a few appearances for Tottenham during the trail end of 2013-14 in which he scored a couple goals and started turning a few heads. Expectations were fairly high going into this season, but Kane has surpassed even the most optimistic of them.

For the first couple months of the 2014-15 campaign Kane was restricted to substitute appearances in the Premier League and starts in the Europa League. Despite the limited playing time Kane impressed quickly scoring seven goals in only six Europa League appearances. Many Spurs supporters were calling for Kane to start in the Premier League as early as September, but it wasn’t until November that Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino began rewarding him with significant playing time.

Since then Kane has gone on to score eight goals, including two in a memorable 5-3 win over Chelsea. Unlike Berahino and Lukaku though, Kane’s numbers actually reflect those of a top class Premier League striker.

Kane is averaging an incredible 0.62 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes from 3.6 shots per 90 minutes. On top of the goals he has a couple of assists for a record of 0.16 assists per 90 minutes. Kane also has a wCC+ of 124.90 meaning that in his first year as a bona fide starting striker his attacking contribution is already 25 percent higher than the average Premier League forward.

Even beyond the goal and assist numbers Kane averages many more successful dribbles per 90 minutes than Berahino and Lukaku, and boasts significantly higher defensive contributions in terms of interceptions and tackles.

Kane’s player radar for this season is much more impressive than either Berahino’s or Lukaku’s.

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Kane has only played 1163 minutes this year in the Premier League, less than his two fellow 21-year-old strikers, but in terms of output per 90 minutes his performances are a cut above. Obviously it helps Kane that Tottenham is having a much better season than Everton or West Brom, but a lot of Tottenham’s success this season has been due to Kane himself.

Strikers of a young age don’t always live up to the hype, especially in an era of inflated transfer fees when the pressure put on these players to perform is almost insurmountable. It’s easy to see why when looking at a player such as Berahino who is getting much more attention in the transfer market than his underlying numbers probably deserve.

However, Harry Kane is actually putting up performances and numbers that are worthy of the hype and separate him from the rest of the class of 1993.

Sam Gregory is soccer analytics writer based in Montreal. Follow him on Twitter