Harry Kane: calls mount for Tottenham striker to get England call-up next month

MOVE over Costa, Aguero and Sanchez: there’s a new striker taking the EPL by storm - and he’s a 21-year-old Englishman. Meet Tottenham’s Harry Kane.

Tottenham Hotspur's English striker Harry Kane (C) celebrates victory after the final whistle during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal at White Hart Lane in London, on February 7, 2015. AFP PHOTO / IAN KINGTON RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or “live” services. Online in-match use limited to 45 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications.

THE Premier League has a new goal scoring hero – and he’s a 21 year-old Englishman.

The top of the goal scoring charts was meant to be reserved for the likes of Diego Costa, Sergio Aguero and Alexis Sanchez.

But Tottenham’s Harry Kane has moved to fifth on the list with his 12th goal of the season, joining the Premier League’s headline foreign trio and fellow Englishman Charlie Austin, who has banged in 13 for struggling Queens Park Rangers in a similarly impressive effort, in the Golden Boot race.

But Kane’s match-winning brace in the North London derby against Arsenal, coupled with a season tally of 22 in all competitions, has thrust his recent exploits front and centre. And it gets worse for Gunners fans: Kane may be a Spurs product, who just signed a long term deal with the club, but pictures have emerged of Kane as a youngster supporting Arsenal!

Harry Kane celebrated the Arsenal Invincibles trophy parade in 2004. pic.twitter.com/mTclcLy0jm

— Football Funnys (@FootballFunnys) February 8, 2015

His recent run of form has made the calls grow louder for Roy Hodgson to hand the England youth international a call-up for next month’s Euro 2014 qualifier against Lithuania, especially since he is also eligible to represent Republic of Ireland through his father.

It was something even Frenchman Arsene Wenger weighed into after his side’s 2-1 loss: “When you have scored the number of goals he has scored, if you don’t put him in there, someone will give him a passport from another country”.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane.

He has scored 11 in his last 14 games, including braces against Arsenal and Chelsea.

After waiting for the next Michael Owen or Alan Shearerthe emergence of Kane, Austin and Burnley’s Danny Ings, together with Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling’s continued progress, provides England fans with reason to believe. Skipper Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, needs four goals to become England’s greatest ever scorer.

It’s Kane, however, whose claims are proving irrepressible thanks to the complete game he’s developed. He has strength, pace, the ability to score with both feet, strong from set pieces, all with a workrate and passion for the game.

“If you stopped the season right now, there would be four players in contention for player of the year: Cesc Fabregas for the purists, Diego Costa for his power, Alexis Sanchez for his impact and Harry Kane for his all-round game,” wrote Jamie Redknapp in The Daily Mail.

“For me, it would have to be Harry Kane.”

Former England boss Glen Hoddle was also effusive. “Harry Kane has to be in the England squad next month. He’s made the step at every level. England is the next natural stage of his development. To play in his first north London derby and score twice is extraordinary,” he wrote in a newspaper column, while former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy, working as a pundit for BBC, declared: “Not just selected (for England), but build the team around him”.

He’s done the hard yards, coming through loan stints at Leicester City, Leyton Orient, Millwall and Norwich City.

Ex-Spurs boss Tim Sherwood rated Kane when he had him in his reserve side at Tottenham, but that’s a world apart from his jaw dropping form that has made Roberto Soldado and Emmanuel Adebayor’s Tottenham woes feel like ancient history. And Sherwood revealed last week that if the club had their way last January transfer window, then Kane might currently be on loan at a Championship club, rather than taking the EPL by storm.

“Truth be known, if Tottenham had had their way ... then Harry Kane would not have been Harry Kane today, because he would have been on loan at a Championship club to gain even more experience. And he would not have got his opportunity to play for Tottenham.

“The rest is history as far as he is concerned.”

Sherwood’s decision has been Mauricio Pochettino’s gain, as his emergence, alongside the likes of Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb, has seen some of the Argentine’s philosophies start to rub off at White Hart Lane. High tempo, energetic football, with a belief in the youth at his disposal.

“This is our philosophy,” Pochettino said. “It was our philosophy at Espanyol, Southampton and now here. Why not? If you have players with potential for first team, why not? This is our identity. We have to give these players opportunities to show their value. Maybe we are brave. When we put a player in it is because they are ready.”

And what does the player himself think of it all?

“I think it’s both fitness and confidence,” the striker said.

“I think when you’re winning, the adrenalin is pumping and everyone is ready to go so we’ve got to keep the energy levels. There’s not been a good moment in pre-season, if I’m honest! There were double sessions, times when you were pushing yourself to the limit but you’re doing it for a reason. This is the reason that you’re seeing now.”

So while Pochettino tries to keep a lid on things – “he is a great player but my idea that he can still improve and we need to push him as his potential is massive” – the calls for an international call-up will mount.

There’s also a balancing act to consider too: should Kane finish his under-21s duty, which climaxes with the European Championships in the Czech Republic in the European summer?

Either way, he’s on one of those runs that King Kane, or the Hurri-Kane, will take some stopping this term.

Originally published as Harry Kane: calls mount for Tottenham striker to get England call-up next month