The brilliance of Harry Kane

I’ve been wondering for years who Harry Kane reminded me of, and it finally came to me last night watching him accept the Ballon d’Or, recognising him officially as the best footballer in the world. Clem Atlee.

Bear with me. For most of his early career, Kane was regarded at best as a lightweight – a player with talent as a schoolboy and youth but who wasn’t from the top calibre. He was, famously, let go by Arsenal as an eight-year-old boy, but through sheer determination carried on learning the game with Ridgeway Rovers, Watford and then, of course, Spurs. But even at Tottenham he wasn’t taken seriously as a prospect and was sent out on loan to Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich City and then Leicester City before finally getting his break at Spurs. 

I was at his first team debut and recall a rather flimsy looking kid. It would never have dawned on me that he would become, as it were, Harry Kane. Not even after he topped the Premier League goal scoring chart in 2015/16, when he was dubbed by some a one season wonder. 

The thought that went through my mind last night was Attlee’s limerick, composed in his retirement:  

There were few who thought him a starter,

Many who thought themselves smarter.

But he ended PM,

CH and OM,

an Earl and a Knight of the Garter.

But it’s not just that both Attlee and Kane were initially underrated by their contemporaries. Both represent something quintessentially British. Kane has never been able to rely solely on his natural talents. He could hardly be more different to the likes of Lamine Yamal, who was also on the Balon d’Or shortlist, who breezed into the Barcelona team at 15 and plays football as if he was spinning silk. Kane has spent his entire career – indeed, his life – proving that practice makes perfect, becoming the greatest player in the world through sheer hard work. In that sense he represents so much that is traditional, excellent, and uplifting about Britain. He takes nothing for granted and wins through dedication and perseverance.

More than that, he is also a role model in every sense. He is the very opposite of the cliche of the nightclub-loving footballer; a family man who is married to his childhood sweetheart. He conducts himself perfectly on and off the pitch. Indeed, one of the most galling aspects of James Graham’s play, Dear England, was that it portrayed him as a bore and an idiot – about as wrong as it could have been. He might be unassuming off the pitch – humble, even – but it’s nonsense to portray that as stupidity. Kane is shrewd enough to know, for instance, how never to put a foot wrong. You will never hear him sounding off or wading into controversy.  

Kane has made his legendary career through hard work and dedication rather than through PR and social media. He lets his feet do the talking. He is everything that is brilliant about Britain as we used to be – and, if we treat him as a role model, can still be.