Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte believes Harry Kane can become one of the best strikers in football history and vows to help him continue his journey towards that feat.
Kane has been in inspired form since Conte’s arrival at the club in November and has contributed to nine goals in his last six Premier League outings (Transfermarkt).
The England captain’s displays of late have also been key in putting Tottenham back in contention for a Champions League place, with the club sitting in the top four with eight games remaining.
And Conte, when questioned whether Kane could cement himself alongside some of the greatest strikers in history, feels the 28-year-old has time on his side to achieve that if he maintains his current trajectory. However, he admitted it is difficult to improve a player like Kane.
He said (via Football.London): “I think he deserves an important position in the world of football. I think Harry also has the right age to show that he can be one of the best, best in the world but especially in history no?
“I think he’s already in the history because he scored a lot of goals for the club and scored a lot of goals for the national team. He’s the captain.
“He has the right age to consolidate and be one of the best in the world. His role, he’s a No.9 but at the same time, he can be a No.10 because of his quality.
“He’s very good at making assists and to put the ball where he wants. We try also to exploit this aspect and give the ball to him.
“About our team, I’m trying to improve not his quality but to be more effective, to be in the box and a striker.
“I repeat we’re talking about a fantastic player, so it’s very difficult to improve him but we’re trying to work, to push him to have the top ambition to become the best striker.”
Conte added: “Don’t forget we’re talking about a player who has already shown to be a top-class striker. In the past, he scored fantastic goals. He was younger but despite this, he scored in a fantastic way in every season,” said the Spurs head coach.
“For sure, when you grow, you gain experience and you understand your body much better, you improve your mentality. For sure, the players you spoke about have great professionalism.
“Ronaldo, why has he arrived at his age, has this mentality and has this type of performance? Because he takes care of himself and if you take care in training sessions, about your food, you become more complete.
“For sure, when you get older, you’re more experienced and in my experience you start to understand situations that in the past you thought wasn’t useful. In my experience, after 30 years old I understood the importance of food. After 30 years old!
“I understood that to eat well was good for injury, to recover well, and to sleep eight hours was important. When you become older, you can add experience in your talent, your quality, your professionality.
“Also we’re talking about a player [in Harry] who in every training session wants to push himself, wants to improve himself. For him, it will be very easy to find the right way to continue to develop and find the best absolute.”
Kane has notched 11 of his 12 league goals this season under Conte after undergoing a slow start to the campaign, which saw him fail to net in any of his first six games (Transfermarkt).
He will be hoping to maintain his positive impact when Spurs look to make it four wins in a row with a trip to Aston Villa on Saturday.
Spurs Web Opinion
Kane has all the tools to be one of the best strikers in history, with plenty of records in the domestic and international football being chased down by him.
Obviously, the lack of silverware will crop up when his name is mentioned, but on an individual level, he has every right to be in the conversation.