Jermain Defoe: I knew Tottenham hitman Harry Kane would make it

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Jermain Defoe has been speaking of his time at Tottenham Hotspur when Harry Kane was still in the youth academy.

Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Jermain Defoe has told BT Sport that he was confident Harry Kane would always make it into the world superstar he is now, after being nominated in the top 10 of the Ballon d’Or.

Defoe, now at AFC Bournemouth, was a senior Spurs player when 24-year-old Kane was coming through the ranks in north London during his five-year spell at White Hart Lane between 2009 and 2014.

Kane had struggled to make a serious impression in the Spurs youth side to begin with, being sent on loan to the likes of Millwall, Leyton Orient and Norwich City during his younger days.

But Defoe saw through that, telling BT Sport presenter Claire Balding that he knew right from the start that Kane was on his way to being one of the best footballers in the world.

“I knew from day one, to be honest,” Defoe said. “When he used to train with us, a lot of the time the younger lads they train with the first team, they can’t really express themselves.

“You see him play for the youth team, but they’ll change their game because they’re scared. But with Harry it was just like, he would get the ball, shoot, and lads would even moan at him. But then he would do the same thing again.

“I was the same, always wanted to score goals. You saw the hunger from day one. It wasn’t a surprise for me to come through and score this many goals at every level; Premier League, Champions League and national team level.”

23-time England international Kane has continued his wonderful goalscoring form, which has seen him win the Premier League golden boot in the last two seasons of England’s top flight.

Playing 21 games in all competitions, Kane has found the back of the net 18 times and will be hoping to do the same when Spurs take on Premier League leaders Manchester City on Saturday afternoon.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side sit a huge 18 points behind Pep Guardiola’s side in fourth place, and even a win against City at the Etihad this weekend would only put a small dent in City’s title charge.