No one thought young Harry Kane would become one of England’s greatest captains… his amazing work ethic made it happen
I’VE played with Harry Kane many times for Tottenham and England and the work he has put in to get where he is today has been nothing short of extraordinary.
I’m not sure people really realise how much he has had to graft to get to be one of the best strikers in the world.
It was a good group but Harry was a little bit overweight and didn’t stand out. He would be honest with himself about that.
Harry went out on loan and I wouldn’t even say he came back as a better player because he was sent out on loan again and again at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester where he sat on the bench and didn’t really play that much.
But he’s always been obsessive in training, staying behind to practice his shooting and work on his finishing.
I’m not speaking out of turn because H is a good friend, but he’s not the quickest.
And he really had to sharpen up on the tools when he was around the box, he had to be clinical.
Him and Jermain Defoe would do a lot of training sessions together on one touch finishing or touch and shoot.
He perfected it so well with getting his angles right and he has a way of scoring into the side of the net which makes it so hard for keepers.
There’s a lot of pressure on him today but the way he copes with it is phenomenal.
For so many years with Tottenham, England, and now at Bayern Munich, the goals have rested on his shoulders. When Harry Kane‘s not playing, there’s not normally many goals.
And the aura he has doesn’t come from his personality off the field, it comes from his personality on it
He lets his football do the talking, banging in goals, putting in performances and leading by example, not just on a match day when the crowd’s there and everyone can see, but on the training field and in the gym.
I like to say it’s in the dark. It can seem easy running out and performing when there’s 95,000 people there and clapping and you’re scoring goals and celebrating.
But it comes from the hard work you put in that no one else can see – that’s what makes a true player.
I remember him scoring a goal at Aston Villa and you were still thinking ‘OK that’s one game but is he going to get a continuous run of games?’.
He owes a lot to Tim Sherwood who brought him in but it was probably the easiest decision to make because Roberto Soldado wasn’t scoring goals.
He also brought Emmanuel Adebayor, who had been left out by previous boss Andre Villas-Boas, and stuck Harry up with him and all of a sudden something gelled and Harry just started scoring goals and the rest is history.
He scored a goal against Arsenal when he had a mask on after he’d broken his nose and he pulled it off and started running and I thought: “The sky’s the limit for you, nothing can stop you because you love scoring goals.”
We always used to have a bit of banter that a defender can play well for 90 minutes and in the 91st minute, someone puts it through your legs and sticks it in the top bin.
All of a sudden you’ve had the worst game, you’re a four out of 10.
Harry could play terribly for 90 minutes, score the winner, run off, and we’d joke how it would be “Harry Kane’s got the winner again to put England in the final or to win the World Cup”.
That’s just my job compared to his.
But he’s developed as a man and as a captain.
The way he’s taken to the captain’s role so well has surprised me. He was a quiet boy, a little bit shy, didn’t really speak much, but he’s grown into it.
He’s been probably one of England’s greatest ever captains – up there with Bobby Moore.
There’s a lot of roles and responsibilities that come with that. You have to carry yourself in a certain way 24 hours a day, seven days a week and Harry’s the prime example of a great England captain.
SOURCE: THESUN