WHY I NEVER LET UP
King of the north London derby reveals his insatiable appetite for work to lead Spurs to glory and become world’s best
HARRY KANE is established as the king of the north London derby.
His incredible goal record – nine in his past 11 games against Arsenal – underlines his status as a world-class striker at the peak of his powers.
But what really makes Kane tick is his mentality, a determination to improve, to prove the doubters wrong and, above all, to be successful at the highest level.
And Kane says he has put in the yards to be the best. “I’ve worked extremely hard to get to where I am now so it would be criminal to take your foot off the gas and allow maybe someone else to take your job or do a better job than you – not just at Tottenham, but the strikers around the world,” he said.
“My aim is to always become one of the best in the world and, like I said, I feel like I’m at a good level, but there’s more to come. It’s a mindset that I’ve always had. I never let up, keep my foot on the pedal. I feel like I’ve had to prove a lot of people wrong throughout the early days of my career, to get to where I’ve got now.
“Of course, there are a lot of doubters, those who said I wouldn’t make it. I guess I’ve always had that chip on my shoulder to prove a lot of people wrong.
“Now I’m at a stage where I’ve proved my point in that aspect, but I also want to prove to myself that I can go that one step further, get even better and achieve even more things.
“It’s a drive that’s been in me since a young age, to make sure that I work harder than anyone else. I feel very good at the moment in terms of physically, mentally and experience. Game understanding.
“But I want to become a better finisher, improve my hold-up play, become a better passer. To take it to another level, you always have to progress. Your form might drop from time to time, there might be another player out there who impresses more, so it’s always about making sure that no one else has an opportunity to take my place.”
Kane recalled watching Jermain Defoe scoring five goals against Wigan 10 years ago, studying Robbie Keane’s movement and Teddy Sheringham. He took bits from each of them to improve as an allround centre-forward.
It has been a challenging road to the top from being loaned out to Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester to becoming the Premier League’s Golden Boot winner and top scorer at the World Cup. Now there is a desire to win silverware for Spurs. “We’ve definitely got a good enough squad,” he said.
“We’ve been close on a number of occasions but, at the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to get the job done. It’s obviously important.”
What is interesting about Kane is how he views himself and his career. He has only just turned 26, but now regards himself as an older head in the team and one who should be entering the best years of his career.
He said; “I’ve still hopefully got a lot of football ahead of me, but I’m not a youngster any more – I’m turning into an experienced player and I’ve got to take that in my stride.
“I need to become even more of a leader, do more things to help team-mates and help younger players for club and country and take all of those roles on while also improving my own game.
“I’m in a good place. I just feel like I can improve even more – and now it’s time to prove it on the pitch.
“Come the end of the season, I always assess what I can improve on, what I can do better on – and the end of this season will be no different.
“There’s always things you can take out, like injuries and fatigue, things like that, but I’m always trying to avoid as much of that as possible. The more I’m on the pitch, the more I can achieve as a player.”