First things first… Harry Kane is England’s only world class player and our only hope at the World Cup this summer.
That cannot be understated.
But events in the last couple of weeks have soured his image somewhat.
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I have absolutely no issue with Kane’s insistence – and subsequent official recognition – that he got a touch on Christian Eriksen’s cross at Stoke in Spurs’ 2-1 win a few weeks ago.
Cristiano Ronaldo would have done exactly the same and he’s the greatest goalscorer this sport has ever seen.
But it’s been the fallout that has tarnished Kane in my eyes.
The Spurs striker has been pretty relentlessly mocked online for his actions, but that’s the way social media works.
99% of the time they’re harmless keyboard warriors.
And at the PFA Player of the Year event last week, PFA chairman Ben Purkiss got involved too by saying: “Harry Kane is so prolific that he is able to score without touching the ball.”
It is, at the very worst, schoolboy ‘banter’… hardly the ‘abuse’ which Kane’s family has reportedly claimed since.
Kane should take a leaf from his some of his peers’ books, laugh it off and roll with the punches.
Let’s put it into some context.
On a more benign scale, James Milner embraces the ‘Boring James Milner’ tag and regularly pokes fun at himself.
Moving up the ‘banter’ scale, Steven Gerrard will never hear the end of his slip that cost Liverpool the title four years ago.
The moment is still shared regularly on social media whilst fans still sing about it up and down the country.
And then at the more sinister end of the spectrum, how would Kane cope with the kind of sick and twisted abuse David Beckham used to receive on a weekly basis?
It pales in comparison.
Kane’s professionalism and drive are two of his most admirable traits, hellbent on clinching a third successive Golden Boot.
But when you’re at the top people will come after you, that’s just the way the modern game is.
He needs to get used to that.
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