Harry Kane`s legacy and how it will be defined

By Mohamed Hassan (@uptop_m)

11:43 pm IN AL BAYT STADIUM- England are awarded their second penalty of the game against France and Harry Kane blazes it over the bar. The snapshot of that moment brings back the thoughts of previous Englishmen missing an important penalty at a major tournament and another failure for Kane on the biggest stage. The story of Harry Kane is one that could end as the highest goal scorer in Premier League history & England’s all time top goalscorer but will it all be for nothing?

His first penalty tied him with Wayne Rooney as the all-time leading goalscorer in the country's history. However, with the second he potentially missed a golden opportunity for England to win a World Cup that has dawned over them for 56 years. At this moment in his career, Kane does not have a single major honour and at the age of 29 he is running out of time. There is a real possibility he will be viewed as a prolific goal scorer without any career defining moments.

For Tottenham he is a Champions League and Carabao Cup runner up with anonymous performances in both finals. Similarly, with England he is a Euros runner up, a big chance missed in the Semi-Finals in 2018 and now missing a crucial penalty in the Quarter-Finals of the World Cup.

Let’s look closer into Harry Kane’s record on the biggest stage & how he fares when the pressure is on in the crunch moments:

2015 League Cup semi-final first leg vs Sheffield United - no goal or assist
2015 League Cup semi-final second leg vs Sheffield United - no goal, one assist
2015 League Cup final vs Chelsea - no goal or assist
2017 FA Cup semi-final vs Chelsea - one goal
2018 FA Cup semi-final vs Man United - no goal or assist
2018 World Cup semi-final vs Croatia - no goal or assist
2019 League Cup semi-final first leg vs Chelsea - one goal
2019 Champions League final vs Liverpool - no goal or assist
2021 League Cup semi-final vs Brentford - no goal or assist
2021 League Cup final vs Man City - no goal or assist
Euro 2020 semi-final vs Denmark - one goal
Euros 2020 final vs Italy - no goal or assist
World Cup 2022 Quarter Final vs France - One goal & a missed penalty

So this begs the question, how will Harry Kane's legacy be defined & will he ever break the stigma of the amazing goalscorer who never rises in the biggest occasions and won major trophies?

Harry Kane faced an important crossroad in his career back in 2021, he appeared on ‘The Overlap’ with Gary Neville and hinted at his desire to win trophies after becoming the Premier League Golden Boot & Playmaker winner with his club flattering to deceive with a 7th place finish. Manchester City were the linked club at the time to obtain the talismans signature with ultimately them falling short at the valuation price and Kane staying at his boyhood club.

Since then, Tottenham secured Champions League football and appointed Antonio Conte with Manchester City also fulfilling their needs for a number 9 with the signing of Erling Haaland. This rules out a potential move to Manchester City and with Alan Shearer's 260 Premier League goals record in sight, can Kane run the risk of staying at Tottenham and not winning trophies?

With 18 months left on his Tottenham deal & an unrealistic chance of silverware in this current season, Kane’s options are limited. Bayern Munich have made their interest known with CEO Oliver Khan mentioning on many occasions his acknowledgement and interest for Harry Kane. It begins the discussion of whether a couple of Bundesliga titles and the end of his chase for the Premier League goalscoring record will rewrite history and give Kane the historical recognition he deserves? Or would rolling dice at Tottenham or another Premier League club (bar city) allow him to accomplish his ultimate desire…..

In 2022, he is no longer the young star striker that was the face of Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs side. He is running out of time to shake the ‘serial loser’ tag as other legendary strikers have iconic goals and career defining moments. What does being the all-time leading goalscorer in Premier League history mean if you are the only one on the list without a major honour? What does being the all-time leading goalscorer mean if none of those goals are considered important in the grand scheme of things? Unfortunately for him, the game is about winning it all, it is about fans seeing their teams lift silverware and not solely competing for a spot in the Champions League. Of course, his failures at the club and international level are not all his fault, but as time progresses and the specifics become blurry, history will not be kind to Harry Kane whether he reaches Shearer’s record or not. He will never command the respect and admiration the same way as other great strikers in the overall footballing world. The numbers will say he is one of the best players in this decade but the cobwebs of his trophy cabinet will continue to haunt him every time his name is mentioned. His second penalty against France went into the sky as did his opportunity to change the narrative surrounding his reputation at this current stage.

Of course, Harry Kane will always deem respect from England and especially Tottenham fans due to everything he has done for the pair over many years. Kane is 6 goals off becoming Spurs` all-time goalscorer surpassing Jimmy Greaves who held the record for many years and this is an outstanding personal achievement highlighting how much of a quality centre forward he really is. So that poises the question, what does Harry Kane have to do to cement his legacy within the worldwide football world? Tottenham still remain in the Champions League which they now face the test of AC Milan in the Round of 16, Harry Kane currently only has two knockout round goals with both coming away from home against Juventus & Borussia Dortmund. Kane now must turn up in this tie and drag Tottenham to the latter stages of the Champions League/ FA Cup and try to win the club its first trophy for 15 long years. It is impossible to do this on his own as football isn’t a one man sport, however, when the big games arrive and big stakes are on the line, Harry Kane must rise to the occasion in an attempt to rescue his legacy.