Harry Kane: Tottenham's goal king
Newly
established as Tottenham's record goalscorer, Harry Kane's place in the history
books was earned as much by his perseverance as his lethal finishing.
Kane's
typically predatory strike in Tottenham's 1-0 win against Manchester City on
Sunday took him past Jimmy Greaves to a record 267 goals for the north London
club.
The
29-year-old was already well established as a Tottenham icon, but securing sole
possession of a record held by Greaves since 1970 moved him into even more
rarefied air.
Greaves, who
died aged 81 in 2021, is regarded as one of the most natural goal scorers in
football history.
A member of
England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad who netted 44 times for his country,
Greaves is the highest scorer in English top-flight history with 357 goals.
The former
Tottenham, Chelsea and West Ham striker finished as the First Division's
leading scorer in six seasons.
For Kane to
stand above Greaves in the Tottenham history books is all the more remarkable
given the doubts that surrounded him at the start of his career.
Hard as it
is to imagine now, there were those who suspected Kane, then a cumbersome
teenager whose natural goal-scoring gifts had yet to emerge, would never make
it at the highest level after he joined Tottenham's academy in 2009.
There were
almost two years between Kane's first Tottenham goal against Shamrock Rovers in
2011 and his next against Hull in 2013.
Temporary
moves to Leyton Orient and Millwall provided glimpses of Kane's potential, but
the lowest ebb of his learning curve came during difficult loan spells at
Leicester and Norwich in the 2012-13 season.
Kane failed
to score for Norwich and struck just twice for second tier Leicester.
"That
was the lowest time. I was 19, living away from home and not playing. You
always have that doubt. If you're not playing there then how are you ever going
to play for Tottenham?" Kane said.
'It's
instinct'
Despite his
struggles, showing he had the grit required to cope with the aggressive
physical approach from Championship opponents was important to Kane's
maturation.
"That
happened a lot when I was on loan. One defender said, 'I haven't got a yellow card
yet, I'm gonna use it on you'," Kane told the Daily Mail.
"The
funny thing was that two minutes later we both went up for a header and he
ended up winded on the floor. So that made me pretty happy."
Suitably
impressed by Kane's drive, Mauricio Pochettino, then in the early days of his
successful spell as Tottenham boss, trusted his potential enough to select him
regularly in the 2014-15 season.
Kane repaid
Pochettino's gamble with a barrage of goals and the rest is history, given if
the striker still can't quite explain what makes him such a penalty area
predator.
"It's
instinct, natural. When that ball drops to me my body takes over and my mind is
just blank really," Kane said.
Kane has 199
career Premier League goals to his credit, with only Alan Shearer (260) and
Wayne Rooney (208) ahead of him.
Kane also
became England's joint all-time leading goalscorer at the World Cup in
December, striking for the 53rd time in the quarter-final defeat against France
to join Rooney at the top of the charts.
He could
have broken Rooney's record in the closing minutes of the France match, but
missed a penalty that condemned England to their painful exit.
It was a
rare miscue from Kane, who has appeared to the manor born on the international
stage from the moment he scored just seconds into his England debut against
Lithuania in 2015.
Kane's goals
have so far failed to deliver silverware for club or country, but fuelled by
the tenacious streak that inspired his rise to the top, it would be no surprise
if he finally ends that drought in the near future.
Want to send us a story? SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp 0743570000 or Submit on Citizen Digital or email wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a Comment