Former Tottenham midfielder Jermaine Jenas has admitted that Harry Kane’s emergence as a top Premier League striker was is a huge shock to him.
Jenas saw a number of promising youth prospects train with the first team during his time at Spurs, but he didn’t believe Kane to be one of them.
“I’ve been totally clear about this – it’s been one of the biggest shocks of my footballing career,” Jenas said on BBC 5live (quotes via trainingground.guru).
“I never saw it. We had Ryan Mason, he was one who you thought, ‘listen, he’s going to be a player’, because he had this flair about him that English players are not allowed to have.
“There was Dean Parrett, obviously Andros Townsend, there were a few players coming through. They brought in John Bostock from Crystal Palace as well.
“They were players coming you were expecting ‘he’s destined to be a top player for Spurs.’ He came off the bench for Leyton Orient in 2011, he was on the bench for Leicester, he went to Millwall. All these clubs he went to he didn’t even have a good time, he wasn’t even a starter.”
Following a goalless August, Kane scored 13 times for club and country in September. His rise to the stop has been quite simply staggering — long may it continue.
I think it took a lot of people by surprise. I’ll admit myself (shamefully) that at one point I was asking why we were persisting with this Harry Kane who we kept sending on loan only to prove he was no good whatever he went. It is testament to the mental strength and determination of the lad. He is a truly impressive individual who deserves all the success he is getting.
Exactly, you can develop a players strength stamina and skill. You can educate him tactically but that mental strength and attitude can take longer to mature. I’m sure there are many a past pro who have ‘grown up’ ‘listened’ ‘become totally dedicated’ or ‘grown strong’ too late for it to impact their career.
Harry appears to me to be a good listener, level headed talker and an all round well grounded character.
me to Robspurs i said to my son at the time we have a striker that just is not gonna make it i never see it how wrong was i
I am also very surprised and delighted by his progress, people slate the Europa league but it was his goals and performances in that competition that forced his inclusion in the first 11 for league games.
As well as his ability he has tremendous desire, self belief and levelheadedness, and the way he conducts himself reminds me so much of Gary Mabbutt – hopefully some of his traits will rub off on Deli Alli before success goes to his head.
Good call. He is a lot like Mabbut. We can hope that Alli will be influenced but I have my doubts. I’m not judging him and I don’t know him but from appearances he has an ego problem.