Right now, Harry ‘he’s one of our own’, ‘Hurrikane’ Kane can do no wrong. The Tottenham striker bagged a brace upon his North London derby debut at the weekend, bringing his season total to a seismic 22 goals across all competitions.
To put that into context, no Premier League player has scored more this season, and just four more strikes in the 2012/13 campaign convinced Real Madrid to pay a record-breaking £86million for Gareth Bale two summers ago.
Despite the negative stigmatisms associated with Kane’s unassuming build and occasionally cumbersome style, such a haul cannot be purely the result of good fortune – as his expertly angled header to secure Spurs a 2-1 victory over Arsenal on Saturday paid specific homage to. Having scored both goals in front of England manager Roy Hodgson, watching from the White Hart Lane stands, the 21 year-old looks a dead-cert for his first call-up next month when the Three Lions face Lithuania and Italy.
If Hodgson were to overlook Tottenham’s very own Roy of the Rovers – Kane of the Lane – a national outrage of Jimmy Saville proportions would likely ensue. Ok, maybe Rolf Harris would be a more accurate analogy. Kane has, after all, scored more PL goals than Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge, England’s two front-men at the World Cup, combined this season.
Yet, there’s a worrying danger in such popularity, especially at such a tender age. Although Kane’s form has been exemplary in all departments this season – by no means exclusively in front of goal – and his obvious passion for Tottenham remains a rare characteristic in football’s corporate age, the fact of the matter is that he’s not the first home-grown talent to catch the English public’s attention after a catalogue of strong performances. Unfortunately, most amount to nothing in comparison to the future world-class stars they’re naively heralded to become.
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Spurs’ most notable outgoing of the January window, Aaron Lennon, provides the perfect case in point. He too appeared to be on the verge of greatness when the Lilywhites purchased him from Leeds as a 17 year-old in 2005, one year later playing his way into England’s plans. Now 27 years of age however, it’s almost as if Lennon’s career is passing him by. He’s gone on to pick up just 21 senior caps in nearly a decade and could find himself out of employment this summer when his contract in North London and loan spell with Everton come to simultaneous ends.
Although Lennon’s speed and industry makes him more than qualified for top half Premier League football, the rest of his game has never developed much further.
I have similar concerns for Kane; right now, a 50-yard Jan Vertonghen piledriver could poleaxe him square in the face, leaving him unconscious on the floor, and the ball would still somehow trickle into the back of the net, but it won’t always be that way. Confidence and the sheer will of the Tottenham fan base is amplifying his performances to new levels personally unprecedented – how sustainable that current level is however, remains to be seen.
If the young striker ended the current season on a slight whimper, entered the next without a goal in his first ten games and subsequently, his career drifted into relative obscurity, it would hardly constitute the biggest fall of grace ever witnessed by the Premier League – or for that matter, Tottenham.
Most imperative for Kane is not to get sucked up by his own hype. His attitude on the pitch suggests a hard-working and level-headed character, too compelled by his enthusiasm for Tottenham and the sport in general to fall victim too it’s many glamorous off-field distractions. Equally, his superfluous form is yet to be marred by reports of immature egotism, in the same manner as West Bromwich Albion’s own prodigious poacher, Saido Berahino.
Yet, the 21 year-old’s following is becoming so almighty that inevitably, it will become impossible for him to ignore. Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy is already calling for the England team to be built around Kane, the Daily Mail claim he’s being scouted by Real Madrid, Three Lions icon David Beckham has offered his own glowing endorsement, The Guardian’s Jacob Steinberg describes him as a striker with ‘no limits’ and Twitter is littered with Memes, Vines and tweets in honour of his recent performances, with his face superimposed onto the bodies of Superman and Jesus Christ, to name a few.
Indeed, it seems the world has gone Kane crazy over the weekend – but that’s a world Spurs’ leading goalscorer can’t let himself get dragged into. An arguably larger challenge than maintaining his form on the pitch, is ensuring all the recent hype doesn’t affect it. He’s a striker with enormous potential, but maximising it long-term will take a lot more than simply his unequivocal talent.
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