Kane finding his touch but is it too late?
IT Took 27 minutes for Harry kane to smash his first shot in anger last night. It was on target, of course, Lukasz Fabianski gathering his swirling shot from 25 yards with a degree of difficulty.
Hardly something for a player of kane’s calibre to get excited about. But it was a start, at least.
Then came the goal, kane sprinting clear and finishing well against the West Ham goalkeeper with eight minutes remaining to seal victory for Spurs.
His first outing since recovering from hamstring surgery in January, against Manchester United last Friday, was largely miserable. one shot all night, none on target and zero touches in the oppositions box. A night kane had longed for turned into one to forget.
The sight of Fabianski clutching his fierce effort will not make the highlight reel — but for kane it was something tangible. It was almost written on his face: ‘I remember now.’
Moments later he was arcing an audacious outside of the boot pass into Son Heung-min that had Issa Diop at full stretch to cut out.
Soon after, he ghosted in between West Ham central defenders Drop and Fabian Balbuena to head over the bar. It was all flooding back to him. Not that this was vintage kane. Far from it.
But picking up the pace of Premier League football is not necessarily an easy proposition, particular if you have spent six months on the sidelines.
Rightly or wrongly, we judge kane by different standards. That is the pressure that comes with being England captain.
So when he miscued his first real chance in the 58th minute last night, you were still double-taking with disbelief.
kane will get there, of course. He always does. The problem for Tottenham, though, is they desperately need him to hit the ground running if they are to make a serious challenge for Champions League qualification.
Indeed, for kane, whether his side can creep into the top four looks certain to have a major influence on his future. Jose Mourinho, speaking on Monday, was adamant kane would be staying no matter the circumstances.
There is certainly a logic to the Spurs manager’s confidence. The coronavirus crisis will have drastic consequences on the summer transfer market and will there even be a realistic market for kane, rated at £200million?
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy heads into the transfer window in the knowledge that it will take extraordinary circumstances for kane to leave. But if Tottenham are not in the Champions League next season, there is no guarantee the striker will not have designs on heading to a club that does.
That is the only encouragement Europe’s biggest clubs need. And that is a fine line that Spurs have to walk between now and the end of the season.
kane does not want to miss the parade, and who can blame him? He is undoubtedly one of Europe’s premier centre forwards — it is only natural he wants to play elite level football. For now, all he can focus on is trying to ensure Spurs stay on Chelsea’s coat tails.