Harry Kane will be hoping to score lots more goals for Tottenham this season. Spurs' first game is on Saturday, on home soil against Southampton and Antonio Conte will want his side to get off to a good start.
Last summer, Kane was part of a transfer saga and it looked as though he would be making the move to Man City. However he remained in N17 and after a slow start, got back to his best.
The England captain scored 17 Premier League goals and registered nine assists, but missed out on the Golden Boot award, which was won by his teammate Son Heung-min, who shared it with Mohamed Salah. However Kane has won it three times before and will be hoping he can compete for the award once again, this season.
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There was some loose transfer talk surrounding Kane this summer, with links to Bayern Munich, but they were quickly shut down. Instead there are now talks around when the striker will sign a new contract at Tottenham.
In an exclusive interview with football.london, Clive Allen spoke on the transfer talk around the 29-year-old and gave his verdict on Kane. "That's always going to be the case with Harry Kane, the England captain, the goals scorer and footballer that he is," Allen said.
"I think the way he played last year with the goals and assists he had with Son, shows what a remarkable player that he is. He's a top-class professional and he showed that last season.
"This summer there's been a little speculation but nothing compared to last year. But I have no doubt that he will hit the ground running and score goals which he's consistently done for the last eight years or so," he added.
"You can't have anything but admiration for the way he goes about his business. He'll be looking to be on at least 20 goals by the end of the season."
In recent times, Kane has shown his impact in all areas of the pitch. The striker continues to slot the ball into the back of the net, but also drops in deeper positions, to help create for the likes of Son.
The England captain is such a valuable member of Conte's squad and Allen's confidence in him to perform again this season, was shared by another former Spurs man, Michael Dawson. "Harry Kane should be back from day one of the season. Definitely," he told Sky Bet.
"That belief from where we were 12 months ago is night and day. There was no real belief, and it was a tough job for Nuno coming in without everything surrounding it. It’s a completely different feeling this year and Harry will feel that."
Dawson described Kane as a "goal machine" and even went so far to say he thinks he will do even better this season. "He scores goals, his record is phenomenal, and it’ll be no different this year," the former defender continued.
"He’ll get more chances and he'll score more goals than he did last year. I can guarantee you that. His mindset will be different from day one to where he was last year, missing training and with the season before having finished a lot later so he hardly got a break. He had to deal with the reports surrounding him and it was tough, but he’ll be coming back on Saturday looking to fire on all cylinders and score goals.
"His focus and work ethic is incredible and all he thinks about is: ‘How do I hit the back of the net? How do I get better?’ And it’ll never change," Dawson added.
Kane isn't just a 'one season wonder' which many described him as years ago. The striker has now scored almost 250 goals for the north London club and impresses consistently for both club and country.
He has had his critics, but Dawson says he would never be one of them. "I would never ever knock Harry Kane for where he’s come from and worked so hard," the 38-year-old admitted. "That’s what makes players the best in the world and he’s up there.
"You go into training, and he’ll practise shooting, left foot, right foot. When he misses, he’s gone, ‘I’ll score the next one’. And he might miss that one: ‘I’ll score the next one’ and he does. He’s a lethal finisher."
Both former Spurs men are full of praise for Kane and have high hopes for him, for the upcoming season. Now it is time for him to perform on the pitch and he can have a strong start to the season, with a solid display on Saturday.
Michael Dawson was talking to Sky Bet about the Sky Bet Fan Hope Survey, a poll of over 2500 fans on their hopes and expectations ahead of the new season. To read more from Dawson, and to take the survey, visit the Sky Bet Start of Season Hub.
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