I’D LOVE KANE TO REIGN IN SPAIN
Roberto Soldado’s Tottenham career stalled as a certain young forward rose through the ranks to become a club great. But he insists...
ROBERTO Soldado is reminiscing about his Tottenham days: the frustration of not doing himself justice in north London, and the blistering form of a young lad called Harry Kane in his first season in the first team.
‘The one thing I will not be totally at peace with the day I retire will be the way I performed in England,’ says the 34-year-old, who is enjoying a swansong back in La Liga at Granada.
‘I don’t regret going to Tottenham. I thought I was going to fit in well with my style of play. But I had the boom of Harry Kane to contend with. That set me to one side a bit.’
It was the 2014-15 season, Soldado’s second and last at Spurs, and it coincided with the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino and his decision to make Kane his No 9.
‘ I understood it perfectly because you could see immediately what a massive impact he could have on games, and he’s maintained that incredible level,’ says Soldado. ‘I saw it in training every day. And I’ve seen players who trained well but when it came to performing they did not reach the same level.
‘But from the first time they put him in the team he started to show that he was prolific in front of goal and that he could hold the ball up. I don’t think there is a limit to what he can do. I still don’t think we have seen the best of Harry Kane.’
Roberto is not the only Soldado who is a fan of Kane.
‘My son is into football,’ he says, ‘and if we watch a Premier League game or we see him scoring for England I’m there saying, “I played with this guy”. I’m really happy for him above all for the way he is as a person. He really deserves it.’
There is some pride in that boast to his son that he was Kane’s teammate. ‘My son doesn’t remember the galacticos,’ he says. ‘When we see (Zinedine) Zidane as a coach I tell him I was a team-mate of his too and he says, “Oh yeah, was he any good?” Out comes the YouTube and I show him.’
Soldado was an impressionable youngster at Real Madrid when Zidane was in his pomp as a player. ‘ I was part of the B-team that got promoted and they told five of us we were going on the pre-season tour to the US and Japan. ‘What I experienced with the
galacticos was extraordinary. There would be 50,000 to watch training. I was just a kid and too daft to know how to make the most of the situation. I wasn’t mentally prepared for it.
‘ I look back and think, “What a baby”. Someone should have given me a slap and said, “Come on, what are you doing?” I didn’t look after myself. I used to eat far too much. Now I think: “How was I going to play with all the galacticos in that shape?” ‘I later had a fitness coach who told me, “Every birthday you pass, you have to weigh one kilo less”. Now I weigh seven kilos less than when I played for Real Madrid.’ It wasn’t the best environment for an impressionable Soldado. ‘If you gave me a glass of wine I would drink it and then maybe another. Now I might drink one and go home. You need responsibility for your own limits.’ His parents moved to Madrid to straighten him out after they were advised to by the club. ‘When I was 18 I went to live with two other youth players. Somebody at 1am would say, “Why don’t we go out for a drink?” And I would have been the first to be getting ready.’ With his parents’ help he turned things around. Soon he was married and had become a father. ‘Life became more relaxed,’ he says. His time at Madrid coincided with several England players. Of David Beckham he says: ‘I don’t think he spoke Spanish. He couldn’t say much. But he was always joking and in the end that brings you close to your team-mates.’
And of Jonathan Woodgate he adds: ‘He did speak Spanish. When I went to Tottenham we had some contact. He was a nice person and a very good defender who had bad luck at Madrid.’
After a brilliant spell at Valencia, Soldado earned a £26million move to England where his fondest memories are the ‘unforgettable’ support he received from Spurs fans despite his poor form.
Talk inevitably circles back to Kane. The England captain took Pochettino’s dismissal badly, describing on social media how he had lost a manager and ‘a friend’.
‘Kane will always be grateful to Pochettino,’ Soldado says. ‘For everything he gave him — he has helped him play his best football, but now he will have a lot of confidence in (Jose) Mourinho.’
And if after playing for Mourinho, Kane decides to try his luck abroad, would he succeed in Spain? ‘I would like to see it,’ Soldado says. ‘I remember shooting drills in training and the way he was so prolific with both feet. Add to that the experience he now has and I don’t think he would have a problem adapting.’
And speaking from bitter experience he adds: ‘I think it is harder to adapt from La Liga to the Premier League than the other way. I would like to see him in La Liga, and I hope it’s at Real Madrid.’
Soldado has rediscovered his touch in Spain where Granada continue to surpass expectations. His goal against Villarreal on the opening day made him the only player in La Liga history to score for six different teams.
After some difficult times, Soldado is making the most of what is left of his career: every match, every training session.