Following his 91st minute winner against Tunisia in England's opening game of the 2018 FIFA World Cup one of the commentators remarked that Harry Kane, the Tottenham and England frontman is 'worth his weight in Gold'.
It's a phrase that is passed around a lot and, many years ago, may have very well been true. But I thought to myself, is Kane really worth his weight in Gold?
Whilst there's some speculation as to his value in today's market, a World Class striker, proven to score goals in one of the world's top leagues, surely Kane is worth around £140m? Coutinho went for around the same price to Barcelona, so this sounds fair for Kane who would, should the value be met, also join a club of similar stature and budget.
Now for some calculations:
The current price of Gold is $41,191.54 per kilogram.
Wikipedia says that Harry Kane weighs 86kg.
41,191.54 x 86 = £3,542,472.44
A value of just £3.5m means that Harry Kane's value in Gold is far below his actual value. Many clubs would be jumping at the chance to bag the goalscorer at that price!
So no, Harry Kane is not worth his weight in Gold...he's worth an awful lot more.
And that got me thinking...what would Kane have to be made out of to match his value?
I had a look at the prices of a number of expensive items; oil, printer ink, plutonium; but nothing could come close (including Anti-matter which, at $62.5 trillion per gram, I felt it was a bit too much), until I found:
Tea
In true English fashion, the goalscorer is worth his weight in tea. But not just your regular PG Tips, oh no. This is premium 'Da Hong Pao' tea from southern China. The leaves go for around $1,400 per gram, so here's the numbers:
1,400 x 1,000 = $1.4m per kg
1,400,000 x 86kg = $120,400,000
So at around $120m or £91m you'd still be bagging a bargain for Kane, even if you paid for him in posh tea.
LSD
If tea doesn't do the trick for you, how about something stronger? LSD, the psychedelic drug famed for its use in the Vietnam War is rumoured to come in at around $3,000 per gram. Using the same format as above:
3,000 x 1,000 = $3m per kg
3,000,000 x 86kg = $258,000,000
In sterling (not Raheem, the currency) a Harry Kane sized stack of LSD would come in at £196m.
So there you have it. Harry Kane is not worth his weight in Gold, but he is in Tea or LSD and depending how well or bad England's World Cup campaign goes you might find yourself consuming 86kg of one or the other pretty soon!