How Much Is Tottenham's Harry Kane Worth Based on Form so Far This Season?
The words most commonly associated with Harry Kane's 2014-15 season predominantly related to the headline-grabbing nature of his exploits.
Such superlatives saluting his hitherto unheralded talent (outside of Tottenham Hotspur and England junior circles anyway) are rare in the modern English game.
Kane has a good half of the current campaign still ahead of him in which plenty more will be said about the striker. But so far, the most appropriate descriptions and analysis are those that reflect a more varied few months.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
The same applies to considering a ballpark figure for his transfer value based on this recent form—a subject that will be brought up a few times until the upcoming January transfer window closes.
At times last season, the hype was such that you would not have been surprised to hear figures north of £50 million being touted for Kane. Extraordinary money for a player who had not yet completed a full top-flight season, but not unfeasible in the current market.
With Real Madrid reportedly showing early interest, per Pete Jenson for MailOnline, Spurs would have probably wanted nothing short of that for a player reaching talismanic levels even Luka Modric and Gareth Bale never attained (a product of Kane being the local academy boy made good).
Naturally things have since died down.
Kane's performance in his side's 2-0 win over Southampton last weekend aptly represented his move from the can't-miss Premier League phenomenon to a more studied but still often brilliant forward.
Leading the line for Tottenham as nearly always, a strong Saints start left the 22-year-old having to bide his time. Space in the final third was minimal and it was not until the 36th minute that his first shot arrived.
Since his extraordinary autumn and winter run last season, defenders have grown wiser to him around their penalty area. He has had to work even harder for his opportunities and quickly had to sharpen the instincts and footballing smarts that inform them.
When the first significant hint of an opening emerged at St. Mary's Stadium, Kane was prepared. Taking up space to the right of Southampton's defence, he was well positioned when Dele Alli prodded towards him following quick, determined Spurs work on the break.
Kane proceeded to deceive two defenders into almost crashing into one another before proving too quick for a cumbersome Virgil van Dijk challenge. Topped by a composed finish into the bottom corner, it was the kind of goal that proves his best last season—think how he blasted Chelsea away or coolly saw off tricky West Bromwich Albion and Leicester City sides—were no flukes.
The fact that Kane scored just once in the Premier League before his hat-trick at Bournemouth on October 25 gave pause for thought about his standing. Was he truly the star his spectacular showings had so excitingly suggested?
Yet even during that early drought, the work rate and all-round contributions to Spurs' attack continued to mark him out as one of the league's most captivating front men.
He was literally doing everything but score, and given the good positions he was getting into, it always felt like a matter of time. The run that extinguished those doubts brought to mind the peaks of his name-making year.
A poacher's hat-trick seeing off Bournemouth (the 5-1 win looking even more impressive given the Cherries' strong recent form) was followed up by timely goals in wins against Aston Villa and Anderlecht.
His big-game aptitude then reiterated with a goal at Arsenal, the winner versus Qarabag, and in between a lead role in the evisceration of West Ham United.
Spurs' top scorer had to wait three games for his next strike against Southampton, but that lull was more a team issue than any individual one. The reaffirming of Kane's qualities has restored him as a topic of conversation in discussing targets for the division's moneyed and/or elite.
In his Daily Star column, former Arsenal player Paul Merson suggested Chelsea bring him in as competition for their misfiring striker Diego Costa. Speaking to Matt McGeehan of the Press Association (h/t the Daily Mail), former Tottenham star Teddy Sheringham intimated Kane would eventually be wise to move on from Spurs sooner than he did.
Kane leaving Spurs is a non-story right now.
As was the case last season, Spurs will have no interest in selling a player so important to their short-term prospects. In the long term, the hope is Kane will be part of a successful team he feels no need to leave.
But be it nothing more than the formality of a deterrent or a real price Tottenham are quoting for a want-away player, 2015-16 is giving credence to the notion they could value Kane upward of £50 million.
With the safety net of a contract expiring in 2020, Spurs would be well within their right to charge such silly money were he to maintain or even improve on his current performance levels.
Considering Liverpool got £49 million off Manchester City for Raheem Sterling, who is very much a work in progress, a comparatively more accomplished Kane will almost certainly be worth a lot more than that.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
