22     Striker     Tottenham Hotspur     England

Skinny

Four loan spells and then a resident position as first choice Europa League striker at a club who appeared to not care about the Europa League, at one point it was hard to see where Harry Kane was going. To his credit he forced himself into the Premier League squad, then finished 2014 as a first team regular and now, twelve months on? Quite simply, he’s the HurriKane.

2015 has been…

…surprising, great, a learning experience, and a platform, all rolled into one.

There seems to be an overriding resistance to accept the fact that Harry Kane is now a top-level striker. A goal-less spell at the start of this season saw plenty chuckling away that they had been proved right but to those people we have to say this - your evidence doesn’t stack up.

Yes, he surprised everyone with the way he played in that Spurs side in the second half of the 2014/15 season, but there’s no denying he found the consistency that the performance on New Year’s Day against Chelsea promised so vividly. Premier League Player of the Month for January and February, PFA Young Player of the Year, England regular, England goal scorer and already past his first dry spell and scoring regularly again, it’s no wonder his manager calls him “top class”.

To be honest it feels like at the moment he’s the right man, in the right place, at the right time and with the absolute right manager to bring the best from him. We’re now at the point where the onus is on those who don’t believe to prove why. He’s already an excellent striker, longer term we hope he continues to prove the inexplicable doubters wrong.

What's next?

Tottenham, as things stand, are a team on the up. His manager, Mauricio Pochettino has managed Kane’s progress excellently, walking the line between high praise and keeping a level head perfectly. He also described Kane’s difficult start to the season as potentially the best thing that could have happened and evidence suggests he might be right. Strikers thrive on goals but must also learn how to survive without them, Harry Kane has learned an enormous amount this year. He could have been forgiven a few more months of dealing with the higher expectations, but he appears to have put that to one side and is somewhere near his best as the year ends.

His sort of form brings rumours and inevitably he has suitors in and beyond the Premier League. Manchester United apparently hold long-term interest, Chelsea are also suggested to be sniffing around, but he looks a player at home for the moment with no real desire to leave. We hope he doesn’t do anything silly in the summer, rides the upward curve Spurs are on and enjoys himself at the Euros. He may not be a surprise anymore, but he is the real deal.

B     This season’s early blip cost him his A but this was *so* close, keep on keeping on, HurriKane