Harry Kane Spurs Form Deserves Premier League, Potential England Call-Up
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino is right to consider striker Harry Kane for increased game time in the Premier League.
Furthermore, with England boss Roy Hodgson set to name his next squad on Thursday, perhaps the 21-year-old should be in line for a shock Three Lions call-up, too.
Pochettino, speaking after Kane scored a late winner in Spurs’ 2-1 victory over Aston Villa, told reporters the striker “maybe deserves to play in the Premier League more,” per BBC Sport.
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This would surely sate the baying Spurs faithful, who have consistently called for Kane to be featured more in the side’s league fixtures after a series of exceptional performances in the Europa League and further domestic competitions.
The stoppage-time deflected free-kick at Villa Park should stand as a testament to Kane’s Premier League pedigree and solidify his place in Pochettino’s first-team thinking.
A much more effective, and much more popular, option than current Spurs first-team strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado, Kane should have now forced his way into the starting line-up.
Given his current hot streak, and with an international break looming after the coming weekend’s fixture list, Hodgson should take notice, too, and afford Kane a call-up.
Harry Kane
The journey Kane has taken to reach this point in his Spurs career has been long and arduous, with the still-young striker having to prove himself on many levels before being afforded his chance.
Despite being just 21 years old, the Spurs No. 37 has been on loan at four clubs so far in his prodigious young career, with spells at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich City and Leicester City.
Each temporary move brought relative success, although a broken metatarsal sustained whilst on duty in deepest Norfolk curtailed the striker’s blossoming development somewhat.
With Spurs’ unrealistic exceptation often seeing higher-profile, established names such as both Adebayor and Soldado preferred to lead the line, Kane had to wait until the homegrown-favouring Tim Sherwood was promoted to a managerial role before his big chance materialised.
Under Sherwood, Kane was ushered in at White Hart Lane towards the end of 2013/14, making six Premier League starts.
Kane showed signs of promise during that spell, but it is now, under Pochettino in the side’s lesser fixtures, that the striker is finally beginning to flourish.
Given the side’s poor form of late, this should now include a role in the side’s league starting line-up.
Spurs in the Premier League
With Kane’s Villa Park strike taking the youngster to nine goals in all competitions for Spurs this season, there emerged a significant gulf between the contribution of the Englishman this term and his more illustrious team-mates.
Adebayor and Soldado have produced just two goals apiece for Spurs this season, with the Spaniard’s travails proving particularly risible.
Belgian attacking midfielder Nacer Chadli stands as the side’s leading Premier League goalscorer, with five goals.
Pochettino’s side have scored 13 goals overall in the league this season, having conceded one more at 14, leaving Spurs with a negative goal difference after 10 games played.
This is an alarming return for a side with top-four aspirations.
A ready-made solution is staring Pochettino in the face, but while the Argentine maintains that Kane “is a special player for Tottenham and for our supporters” due to his homegrown status, his selections are always based on his “analysis,” per BBC Sport.
"If we were in Argentina, he was an Argentine player and playing with two foreign strikers, it would always be a sensitive situation.”
The former Southampton boss raises a bizarre point in that Kane is being favoured due to his nationality, with his goalscoring rate dwarfing the contribution of Adebayor and Soldado combined this season.
However, more helpfully, this also highlights the striker as one of the most in-form Englishmen going into the latest international break.
England?
England manager Hodgson can be criticised in his approach to squad selection in favouring reputation over form.
Take the previous Three Lions squad for the Euro 2016 qualifiers against San Marino and Estonia, where Kane’s Spurs team-mate Andros Townsend was included alongside Liverpool forward Rickie Lambert.
Both have played under Hodgson for England previously, and impressed, but had barely featured for their respective clubs sides in 2014/15.
There is a sensible line that the national squad should be based on form, with the players selected fit and raring to go from the off.
However, there is also the argument that these players may find trouble jelling with the squad.
Hodgson can be commended for his inclination towards youth, however, and this is where Kane should come in for the upcoming qualification fixtures, particularly if first-choice striker Daniel Sturridge continues to struggle with injury.
West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Ben Foster hailed the form of team-mate Saido Berahino, who has featured extensively along with Kane for Gareth Southgate’s England U21s side.
The former Manchester United custodian told TheFA.com: “Without a doubt, Saido should [be named in the England squad this week], he’s the top English scorer in the league.”
So far this season, per WhoScored.com, Berahino has netted eight times in 13 games in all competitions, one fewer than Kane in the same number of appearances.
Echoing Foster’s Berahino praise, Spurs’ Chadli recently told reporters (h/t Sky Sports): “Why not [select Kane for England]? It is up to him and the manager of the national team. He has a lot of quality and he can have some impact in the game.”
Given the game time that he deserves at Spurs in the Premier League, there is great weight behind the notion that Kane could challenge the Baggies front man in the goalscoring charts.
If Saido Berahino deserves a chance in an England shirt, Harry Kane must run him a close second.
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