The ManicaPost
By Phil Neville
Harry Kane continued his quest to “break into that world-class bracket” with two goals in Tottenham’s 3-1 Champions League group-stage win over Borussia Dortmund.
The 24-year-old England striker also scored twice in a 3-0 win at Everton in the Premier League on Saturday, which brought up his century of goals for Spurs.
He has 103 Tottenham goals in 170 games and has netted 30 times in his past 22 matches for club and country. But is this enough for him to be considered world class?
And will he ever claim the ultimate individual prize in world football – the Ballon d’Or? He could have to leave Spurs to become that top, top world class Robert Lewandowski-type player.
If Spurs maintain being a top-four team, that will not be good enough for Harry Kane. I think he needs to be challenging for Ballon d’Ors.
I think he needs to be challenging for Champions Leagues and if Spurs are always going to be that “nearly team”, eventually he will want to leave and join a Real Madrid or a Barcelona. There will always be a doubt about Harry Kane until he gets to that level.
The Ballon d’Or puts you up to greatness, it puts you up on that pedestal to be the best. I think Cristiano Ronaldo’s main goal in life now, Lionel Messi’s maybe as well, is to win the Ballon d’Or as it shows they are the best in the world.
Kane has the killer instinct of (ex-Netherlands striker) Ruud van Nistelrooy. He runs around and bullies defenders like Diego Costa.
He is the most complete centre-forward I have seen for some time. All centre-forwards are selfish.
Van Nistelrooy used to punch the shower and rip the shower head off if he hadn’t scored. Kane has got that but he also has that other side where he is an unbelievable team player.
He is very ambitious and very determined to get to the top. I don’t think he is quite in the top echelon of European footballers.
I would say, though, he is probably in the four or five top strikers. He is certainly England’s top striker.
The first goal he scored against Dortmund epitomised his career. All this has been done through hard work.
It is not something that came naturally to him. He has worked at his career, worked at his game and taken a lot of knocks.
He was sent out on loan and there were worries about whether he would make it at Premier League level. If Roberto Soldado (who scored seven goals in 52 Premier League games for Spurs between 2013 and 2015) had been any good we may never have seen Harry Kane in the Premier League.
He was third-choice striker at Spurs that season and battled up from there. Every obstacle that has been put in his way, he has battled past it. Bulldozing through those defenders, that was work, but what he also has is class and we saw that with his fantastic finish. He is only going to get better.
You wonder, if he is happy to play for Spurs for the rest of his career, that may hold him back. He may never be seen as one of Europe’s best unless he moves abroad in the future.
If he wants to do that he may have to test himself in one of the other European leagues. He will maybe end up doing what Glenn Hoddle did )who left Spurs to join Monaco).
When he feels he has done everything he can at Spurs – who are his first love – I think he will move on. – BBC Sport.
