Kane thrilled to get Austin vote

Harry Kane admitted to surprise and gratitude after learning that one of his biggest rivals for the Premier League’s Golden Boot has voted for him to be the player of the year.

Tottenham striker Kane is leading the scoring charts with 19 Premier League goals and QPR’s Charlie Austin – the next highest English scorer with 16 – revealed last week he has voted for the 21-year-old to be both PFA player of the year and young player.

Kane, after a week in which he scored on his England debut, made his first start for the national team and captained Tottenham for the first time, is now one of the leading contenders for the PFA award.

Austin said last week of Kane: “I don’t think we can not give it to him. He’s been the outstanding player.”

Kane responded saying: ‘It’s great to hear. He’s done fantastic himself and to have him vote for me is great. I spoke to him when we played them away from home – he’s a good lad and we get on well.”

Kane, 21, donned the skipper’s armband for Tottenham at Burnley on Sunday – the youngest player in the Premier League to do so this season – but his 30th goal in all competitions proved elusive, and Spurs had to settle for a point.

That leaves Tottenham seven points off the top four and with an inferior goal difference but Kane is refusing to given up on a Champions League spot just yet.

He said: “It’s going to be tricky, we’re quite a few points behind now.

“In this league you never know. We’ve got winnable games coming up and we focus on them. We take each game as it comes and see where that takes us.”

He added: “I was disappointed to not to get on to the scoresheet but that’s football and I just have to dust myself down and work on it and make sure that I get onto the scoresheet for the next game.

“It was a real honour, a very proud moment for myself to lead the side out. It’s very special for me. Hopefully there is more to come in the years to come.

“We’ve got a lot of leaders in the team. It’s a very young team and everyone has their say. To be given the armband by the gaffer is a proud moment. But there are a lot of captains out there and we all try and work to the same aim.”

Kane was not the only English striker to draw a blank on Sunday – his England Under-21 colleague Danny Ings also failed to break the deadlock in a match that ended 0-0.

Kane, who said the experience of playing against Italy in midweek was “tough”, admitted there is suddenly a lot of competition among English strikers.

He said: “It was a great experience in Italy. To get my first start for England is another proud moment for me. It was tough and I can only learn from those sort of games.

“I know Danny well from the Under-21s. He scores goals and his movement’s great. He’s a prospect for English football.

“There are a lot of great English strikers here at the moment, which is good for the country.

“There’s competition. We’ve all got to work hard to retain our place.”

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