‘Power of Shearer’ – Friedel admits it was impossible to stop Spurs man’s shots in training

Brad Friedel has admitted that he knew straight away Harry Kane was going to reach major heights in his career when he came across the striker in the Spurs academy.

Friedel spent three years at White Hart Lane after arriving from Aston Villa in the summer of 2011. The USA international was Tottenham’s number one for a year and a half before losing his place to Hugo Lloris.

Kane was with the Spurs academy during Friedel’s time at the club and only made a handful of first-team appearances.

It was only after Mauricio Pochettino’s arrival in 2014 that the striker managed to become a regular in Tottenham’s starting eleven.

However, Friedel claimed it was evident to him after facing a few shots from Kane in the training field that he had tremendous potential.

The former Spurs goalkeeper compared the power the Tottenham academy graduate possessed in his shots to that of Alan Shearer.

Friedel said on The Big Interview with Graham Hunter: “When I was at Tottenham I was asked what Harry Kane is like, I was doing my coaching and Harry was with the academy, and I said ‘he has the backlift and a whip like Fowler and the power of Shearer’.

“I was facing shots from everyone and I was finding it really difficult to stop Harry Kane’s shots, and if I did save them, I wasn’t holding them, I wasn’t even close to holding them.

“I saw Robbie Fowler at St George’s Park and he said ‘is Harry Kane the real deal?’ and I said ‘phenomenal Robbie’.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Kane’s finishing with both feet and his technique was always impressive when he was coming through the ranks.

However, I, like many other Spurs fans, did not think he was good enough to be a first-team player because he looked well short of the required standard physically.

In his first few appearances for the senior team, Kane looked quite clumsy and easy to brush off the ball.

His stupendous rise over the next few years shows why one should not write off young players until they reach a certain age as some can be later developers.

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