Harry Kane’s ascent from Tottenham’s local lad to a member of the European football elite is a real-life Roy of the Rovers story – Harry of the Hotspurs, if you will. But the unstoppable goal-scorer’s journey has been one of hard graft, mental grit and smart thinking. This is the tale of how Kane became able
There’s an online video, posted in September 2016, of Harry Kane reacting to his rating on the computer game Fifa 17. For the uninitiated, the digitised footballers are given marks out of 99 in six categories – pace, shooting, passing, dribbling, defending and “physical” – based on their real-life qualities. They’re also awarded an overall rating. It’s a bit like Top Trumps.
In the video, the Tottenham Hotspur and England striker sucks his teeth when he sees the stats. He’s not happy. “I think shooting’s definitely got to be in the 90s,” he says, quibbling with his score of 84.
He insists that his passing is “better than 71”. In the end, however, he grudgingly concedes – though only when prompted by his interviewer – that his overall rating of 84 is “half-decent”.
More recently, in January 2018, the Fifa Team of the Year was unveiled, voted for by a panel of footballers, journalists and gamers, with stats updated to reflect the performances of the players in 2017. Leading the line in the 4-3-3, flanked by Cristiano Ronaldo (99) and Lionel Messi (98), is Harry Kane (96). His shooting had been upgraded to the maximum 99 and his passing to 93.
“That’s closer to the mark,” says Kane, laughing, in the dressing room of the north London photo studio where he is meeting Men’s Health. “There’s always room for improvement, of course. I’ll just have to keep scoring the goals and they’ll have to keep rating me higher.”
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