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Ex-Spurs teammate recalls what Kane did to defy the odds on road to stardom

talksport.com, 14 December 2024, 15:48
A former Tottenham Hotspur player has revealed what it was about club legend Harry Kane which made him stand out.

Kane spent 13 years at Tottenham and in that time notched 267 goals in 416 appearances.

During that time, Kane was a teammate of William Troost-Ekong - who spent three years of his youth career with Tottenham.

Speaking to Hawksbee & Jacobs, Troost-Ekong revealed the secrets to Kane's superb career statistics.

The defender told talkSPORT: "He had a great work rate, he was someone who was also very passionate about working on his finishing.

"Free kicks, I don't think he's shown enough of that but he was a fantastic free kick taker.

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"At that time we had one of the best academy coaches, John McDermott, who was the head of the academy, I think now he's the technical director at the FA.

"Alex Singleford was our under-18s manager, Chris Ramsay was the under-16s manager. So everything was in place for him [Kane] to learn a lot.

"He [Kane] just took his opportunity with both hands. I played against him once or twice, once for Nigeria against England at Wembley, it was amazing and once with Watford against Spurs.

"I'm slightly surprised [at his career], but I know how hard he worked for it" said Troost-Ekong.

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Troost-Ekong spent his youth career at Tottenham before senior stints with Udinese and Watford.

Born in Haarlem in the Netherlands, he also played for Groningen, Gent and had loan spells at Dordrecht and Haugesund.

Troost-Ekong currently plays for Saudi Pro League side Al Kholood.

Kane became Tottenham's all-time top scorer in February 2023, with a 267th goal in white and bringing his Premier League tally to 213.

He ended his time at Spurs with 270 goals to cement his record even further.

In 2023, he made history as the Bundesliga's most expensive signing at £100million, which he followed up with 36 goals in his debut season, winning the European Golden Shoe.

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