Who is the greatest Tottenham Hotspur striker of all time?

Robbie Keane scored 112 goals across 306 appearances

Question: Who is the greatest Tottenham Hotspur striker of all time?
Position‹6 of 8›: Robbie Keane is the greatest Tottenham striker of all time
Argument‹2 of 2: Robbie Keane scored 112 goals across 306 appearances

The argument

The statistical case for Robbie Keane as Tottenham's greatest striker is built on remarkable consistency over a long Spurs career. Across two spells at White Hart Lane — from 2002 to 2008, and again from 2009 to 2011 — the Irishman made more than 300 appearances in all competitions and scored well over a hundred goals, a record that places him among the leading scorers in the club's entire history and made him one of the most prolific Premier League-era forwards Tottenham have had. What distinguishes Keane's tally is how it was accumulated. He was never the beneficiary of a dominant, trophy-winning side feeding him chances; for most of his Spurs years the team finished mid-table, and Keane carried the attacking burden season after season. He reached double figures in the league with metronomic reliability, scored against the biggest sides as readily as the smallest, and contributed assists, link-up play and relentless movement that statistics only partly capture. His partnership with Dimitar Berbatov in the mid-2000s remains one of the most admired strike pairings in the club's modern history, and he captained the side, scoring in the 2008 League Cup final season that brought Tottenham their first trophy in nine years. Goals are the currency by which strikers are judged, and few in Tottenham's long line of forwards have banked so many across so many appearances. On the numbers alone, this argument runs, Keane's sustained output across three hundred-plus games earns him the title of the club's greatest striker.

Premises

[P1]Across two spells at Tottenham, Robbie Keane made more than 300 appearances and scored over a hundred goals, placing him among the club's leading scorers. [P2] He sustained that output in mid-table sides without a dominant team creating chances for him, reaching double figures season after season. [P3] Goals across a sustained Spurs career are the primary measure of a striker's greatness. [C] Therefore, Robbie Keane is the greatest Tottenham striker of all time.

Counter-arguments

On the very measure the argument uses — goals — Keane ranks below several rivals in this same debate. Jimmy Greaves scored more than double Keane's tally for Spurs, over 200 goals, at a far higher goals-per-game rate, and Harry Kane went on to surpass Greaves as the club's all-time record scorer. Keane's consistency and service are admirable, but 112 goals across 300-plus games is not the outstanding scoring record among Tottenham strikers; by the goal-count standard invoked here, Greaves and Kane are ahead of him.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Keane's total is exceeded by Jimmy Greaves and Harry Kane, so it does not place him at the top of Tottenham's scorers. [Rejecting P3] If goals are the primary measure, they point to Greaves or Kane rather than to Keane.