‘The mad thing’: Eddie Hearn claims attacker sold by Tottenham in 2016 was better than Kane

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Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn told Harry Redknapp’s Podcast when Harry Kane was at Leyton Orient in 2011, those at the club felt that Andros Townsend was a better player.

In the podcast, Harry Redknapp shared that Barry Hearn, the father of Eddie and chairman of Orient at the time, had called the then-Tottenham manager to ask for players because they were struggling.

Redknapp sent over Kane, Andros Townsend and Ryan Mason – all of whom went on to represent their country and play for Tottenham’s first-team.

But Boxing promoter, Hearn shared that it was Townsend, who Spurs sold in 2016, who was better than Kane and they were adamant that the-now England captain would end up at their level.

“The mad thing was the best of those players at Orient was probably, Andros,” said Hearn. “And Harry Kane, who is a lovely, lovely young man.

“We were watching Harry thinking, it shows what we know about football, we were going ‘he’s decent but let’s be honest, he’s never going to make it at the top level’.

“The improvements that he made was unbelievable. I suppose it was a bit like Frank Lampard, no-one, other than you (Harry Redknapp) thought that he would go on and do what he did in the game.

“But it was always Andros Townsend who had the speed, and at the level, in division one football. Townsend was a nightmare for anyone because he would get it and run at defenders.

“Harry Kane was a little bit slow. We felt that he was going to end up at Leyton, or those levels.”

Well, Kane ended up proving a lot of people wrong, as the then-Spurs academy coach, Tim Sherwood, who was given the first-team gig for a small period, pushed him into the first-team picture.

From then on, Mauricio Pochettino took over and the rest is history because he is now on his way to becoming Tottenham, the Premier League and England’s all-time goal-getter.

It’s just a case of whether he can add a trophy or trophies to his name because, if he is unable to do that in North London, then he may have to move elsewhere.