Harry Kane’s Scenic Route to Success

Footballers seem larger than life.

Often, they actually are, looming over us on billboards and TV screens, telling us to buy or do something. Personal brands and social media have inflated the biggest stars, creating cultish followings and, crucially, hugely profitable commercial opportunities.

So when you see someone who, sponsorship deals and all, mostly looks like he just wants to ping diagonally on a rainy Wednesday, it’s endearing. It harks back to the simple days of football, which many of us never witnessed), but which are still vaguely pined for.

Harry Kane embodies that nostalgia better than anyone. Last Monday night, he tucked away football’s coveted Ballon d’Or, though not before the organisers had published three different winners on their website and London traffic had delayed the ceremony by 45 minutes. So how did this unassuming chap rise to the top of the footballing world? Wonderfully, it began in relative obscurity.

The long way round

It started promisingly enough. On his first day at local club Ridgeway Rovers, a six-year-old Kane volunteered to go in goal and, by his coach’s account, was excellent, until someone mentioned he was actually a striker. (Hold that thought.)

Then came the whimper. At eight, Arsenal released him after a year, with their former academy director later admitting they’d judged him “chubby, not very athletic.” Ouch.

Not letting this bout of body shaming slow him down, Kane trialled with Spurs, was rejected, then had a spell at Watford, where he got revenge with a hat-trick against Spurs’ youth team. Spurs promptly put their tail between their legs and signed him.

Even there, he wasn’t exactly a prodigy. The young Kane struggled for game time and was loaned out to Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester to little fanfare. Still, we have to thank Tim Sherwood for seeing some promise. Kane got his first Premier League start at the end of the 2013/14 season and quickly repaid the confidence, scoring 31 goals the next.

What followed was a ruthlessly consistent near-decade at promising but ultimately underachieving Spurs.

A few years in, it became clear to anyone with eyes and a telly that Kane was one of the best strikers in the world, with ice-cold composure and a natural instinct for goal dragging Tottenham through countless games. Did he seek his fortune elsewhere? Mostly no (a very public 2021 flirtation with Manchester City aside), drawing doe-eyed adoration from his fans and begrudging respect from all the others.

A new era

But Kane’s loyalty couldn’t last forever. After nearly a decade as one of the best strikers on the planet and winning exactly zero silverware (including agonising final defeats in the Champions League, the Euros and two League Cups), Kane chose Bayern Munich in 2023, a seemingly guaranteed bet.

He banged in 44 goals in 45 games in his first season, only for Bayern to end an 11-year title streak by finishing third. They also lost the Super Cup on his debut, no less. That summer, England lost another Euro final. Would our humble hero ever taste champagne?

Naturally, things began falling into place. In 2024/25 he finally won a trophy, the Bundesliga, in the very same season Spurs ended their own 17-year drought by winning the Europa League. Without him.

Football is a cruel sport.

Then came last season, when he outdid himself entirely. Kane completed a clean sweep of German domestic honours and smashed records for club and country, knocking in 73 goals in 65 games, with crucial performances in both the Champions League and the World Cup, though both campaigns ended in the semi-finals.

His individual brilliance was undeniable, and Kane became the first Englishman to claim the Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen in 2001.

Interestingly, the award usually goes to someone who has won either the Champions League or an international tournament. Kane did neither, making him the first to win without one since Lionel Messi in 2019.

Will Kane claim football’s biggest prizes?

Whether those elusive accolades will ever arrive for a player who, despite being in the form of his life, is closer to the end of his career than the beginning, remains to be seen.

On the upside, his performances show no sign of slowing, with exceptional form so far this season.

Perhaps he will play late into his thirties, dropping deeper and deeper (he’s already pinging passes from the centre circle) until he ends up back in goal. Though anyone who saw him replace Hugo Lloris against Asteras Tripolis in 2014 might hope not.

Only time will tell. But regardless of his trophy cabinet, we can be happy that the bloke who just wanted to thump it in from the edge of the box, a man whom success so often eluded, has finally got his due.