Gary Mabbutt has told Football FanCast that Harry Kane has gone from being doubted at youth level to becoming one of the best strikers in world football.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker has been in absolutely electric form this season, with Spurs attempting to claw their way back into the Champions League qualification race and also attempting to break a trophy drought that stretches back to 2008.
Kane has been central to everything Spurs have done well, scoring 26 goals in all competitions and also laying on 16 assists. That’s 42 goal involvements in 37 games.
The 27-year-old turned in another virtuoso display against Crystal Palace on Sunday as Spurs won 4-1.
Kane scored twice, including a brilliant curling strike from the edge of the box, and also laid on two assists as Spurs won their third successive top flight game, before he followed it up with another brace against Dinamo Zagreb.
Of course, Kane was doubted earlier in his career as he failed to make his way into the Spurs team and went on various loan spells, playing for the likes of Millwall, Norwich City, Leicester City and Leyton Orient.
He only scored 16 goals across those loan spells in 60 games, but he has been prolific since his breakthrough at Spurs, netting 212 times in 323 games.
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Kane has never scored fewer than 15 goals in a single Premier League season and Mabbutt believes he has now earned his place as one of the single best strikers in world football.
He told FFC: “Harry himself is somebody that, at times, in his younger days there were questions being asked about would he make it from development level to first team level. Now he’s up there with the best strikers in the world.
“Obviously he’s a goalscorer, he creates goals, causes havoc in defences. I’ve seen him a lot over the years in training and I’ve been fortunate to play with some of the best strikers in era and Harry’s certainly up there amongst them.”
Mabbutt is particularly impressed with the way Kane scores his goals, insisting that he has a particular technique that flummoxes both goalkeepers and defenders.
He added: “His finishing is phenomenal. Harry has this unbelievable skill of being able to basically have a very short backlift before getting a shot in and that catches out goalkeepers, defenders and everyone around him.
“He’s one of the best strikers in the world.”