Harry Kane is poised to make his England debut against Lithuania this week – and his potential team-mates have been heaping praise on him.
They’re not the only ones. Here are 13 other people who know a thing or two about football and reckon Kane could be a star…
1. Tony Pulis
“Kane has been outstanding. His attitude is so refreshing, and he has proven beyond doubt he has the talent to play in the Premier League.â€
2. Jamie Carragher
“When you’re talking about centre-forwards and what you’d want from them, you’d want them to score goals, you’d want them to hold the ball up and you want them to work hard. He ticks all those boxes. He’s still not getting enough credit. I think he’s got absolute class about him.”
3. Gary Neville
“He just looks to me now like a real monster on the pitch. He can do it all.”
4. Jermain Defoe
“When I was at Tottenham I saw a young kid come through. I remember when he played in the reserves and I’d say to him, ‘H, how many goals have you scored?’ He always scored two or three goals in the reserves every game…Training with the first team, he was scoring goals easy. He’s a natural goalscorer.”
5. Alan Pardew
“He was outstanding against us. He is always on the move. He has always got energy. He has great feet and technique. He is a real bonus for England. It would be great if he gets a start.”
6. Pele
“I think he is an excellent player – he could be a good one for the English team.”
7. Roy Hodgson
“He’s very much an all-round centre-forward, isn’t he? He can play right up against a centre-back but he can also come off and see a pass. And in particular when balls are crossed, he’s always looking to get on the end of crosses and he’s got the technique when the ball falls to him to put it in the back of the net.”
8. Emmanuel Adebayor
“He is learning through his difficult moment as well but he is fantastic player. If he keeps scoring two goals every weekend, he can save us. We all have a huge faith and believe in him. Hopefully, he will drag us out of the top seven and put us in the top four.”
9. Danny Murphy
“He’s so young, but he’s so powerful. I’m struggling to see a weakness in the lad’s game.”
10. Arsene Wenger
“He grows and he has a good determination. He doesn’t stop, he keeps going…When you have scored the number of goals he has scored, if you don’t put him in there, somebody will give him a passport to another country.”
11. Gary Lineker
“He could go on to become a great goalscorer for Tottenham and possibly England as well. I like him a lot. I like his movement, his work rate, his desire to score goals and his confidence to take people on. He is good in the air, he has a good touch, he can beat people and he has clearly got a bit of intelligence. If he had an extra yard of pace, you would say he had everything.”
12. Harry Redknapp
“For me, if I had to vote today [he was speaking in February] for the footballer of the year, Harry Kane would top my list on what’s happened so far. Forget whether he’s a big name or whether he’s a world superstar, no-one’s achieved in my opinion more than what Harry Kane has achieved at Tottenham.”
13. Brad Friedel
“I spoke to John Terry after the game [when Spurs beat Chelsea 5-3 on New Year's Day] and he said Harry Kane was one of the most difficult people he’s played against this season. That speaks volumes. Harry is an outstanding talent. He’s one of the best finishers I’ve ever played with.”
Source: SNAPPA
