OLIVER HOLT: Harry Kane deserves to be recognised as a legend
>
More records will fall soon. For now, all the talk is Harry Kane and Jimmy Greaves and the Spurs record of 266 goals now shared by the two men. But when Kane scores three more top-flight goals, he will surpass the mark of 201 set by Denis Law.
Law was known as The King at Old Trafford. There is a statue of him outside the Manchester United stadium. Kane is keeping the legends company now.
It’s about time we recognized that one of the jewels of English football history is still in his prime and playing against us.
Star striker Harry Kane has leveled with Jimmy Greaves as Tottenham’s all-time top scorer
As Kane continues to slide past the best goalscorers in the game for his country and club, as records seem to fall with every kick of his right boot, as we speak of 53 for England and 266 for Spurs and Alan Shearer’s 260 awaiting Over There In the future, Kane plays from week to week like a prophet in his own land, yet without receiving the respect he deserves in this country, in particular.
Too often, it is condemned with weak praise. Too often, we don’t seem to realize what we have in him and what special talent is in our midst. Because the truth is that, if the narrow jealousy of the club is put aside, Kane deserves to be considered not only as one of the best strikers in the world but as one of the best players in the world.
Maybe we’ve become indifferent because Kane keeps scoring. But he is a phenomenon. We rightly revere forwards like Nat Lofthouse, Stan Mortensen, Shearer and Gary Lineker as masters of their craft and players who hold a special place in our football history.
Kane has surpassed them all in goals scored for England and is fast closing in on the few left ahead of him at club level as well.
His goal for Spurs against Fulham on Monday night was his 266th for his club, equaling the mark set by Greaves. If he isn’t rested, he can break the record at Deepdale, one of English soccer’s great venues, when Tottenham play Preston North End there in the FA Cup on Saturday.
He is still adding to his legend every week. The next time he scores for England, he will stand alone, ahead of Wayne Rooney, as the country’s top scorer. The next time he scores in the Premier League, it will be his 200th goal in the competition.
Any time you can see Kane play live, you have one of the best tickets in football. Long ago, when you could pay at the gate to get through the turnstile, fans would have lined up around the block for a chance to watch him play.
Kane will soon surpass Wayne Rooney’s England record of 53 goals
Kane has become a reliable source of goals under England boss Gareth Southgate.
It is indisputable that his reputation has suffered because he has played his entire career at Spurs at a time when they have rarely challenged for top honors both domestically and abroad and when he has been denied the oxygen of chances. more important.
There has been no place for Kane among the shark suits and fake smiles at Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s court, aka the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
Kane has always been out of style. He has always been an outsider in that golden world of elite soccer players. He has never been accorded the respect accorded to players like Robert Lewandowski or Antoine Griezmann, for example. Much of that is also down to the fact that he hasn’t featured in the stages that they have regularly appeared in or played in in the later stages of the Champions League.
Kane bears comparison to any of them. He is not just the best number 9 England have. He is the best number 10 England has, as well. Look at Kane and you’ll see a player who hits the ball as cleanly and brutally as any striker he’s ever seen.
Watch Kane and you’ll see one of the best creative talents in the game, a player with vision, skill and touch and an intuitive awareness of the space and movement of others.
Yes, score goals. Lots and lots of goals. He has already been the top scorer in the Premier League three times and when he is not the top scorer, he is not far behind. But he is much more than a scorer. He sometimes displays the egoism of a striker, but he also has the instincts of a team player.
Kane doesn’t receive the same recognition as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi at Ballon d’Or ceremonies, but he has established himself as a modern legend.
Roy Hodgson, the former England manager, was mocked at Euro 2016 for asking Kane to take corners at a time when England looked particularly toothless in attack.
The criticism was understandable, but it masked the truth that Kane was not only England’s best striker and number 10, but also their best center on the ball. He has spent much of his career running teams. At Spurs, he’s still doing it now.
Some argue that the fact that he has never won a major trophy invalidates his claim to be considered one of the greatest players, but others see romance and value in the fact that he has played for the same team his entire career.
Most of their rivals in the scoring charts play for title contenders. Kane has scored his goals playing in a good team but not a great one. Many would say that every hit counts for more in circumstances like that.
In a way, it feels good to talk about Kane along with great forwards like Lofthouse and Mortensen.
There is something old-fashioned about him. He doesn’t make headlines for all the wrong reasons. He is a dedicated professional who loves the game for its own sake and has earned his laurels the hard way, via loans at places like Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester. They have not delivered anything. He has come out and taken over her.
After the match at Craven Cottage, he stood in front of a screen talking to Sky Sports presenters about the strike that had brought him to the level of Greaves.
The presenter, Dave Jones, noted that Kane had not looked up before shooting. “I’ve been playing football long enough to know where the goal is,” Kane said, with a smile. And we’ve been watching it long enough to know greatness when we see it.