Harry Kane surprised fans on Sunday when he returned to play quicker than expected, climbing up the ranks of the club's history while he was at it.
Kane, who was out with an ankle injury and not expected to return until later this month, scored against West Brom. The only other goal of the night went to Son Heung-Min, who seemed to be energised by the return of his goal-scoring buddy.
Kane is now the joint-second highest goal-scorer in the club's history, matching Bobby Smith's record of 208 goals.
Spurs coach Jose Mourinho was all praise for his record-matching striker. The Portugese manager is not known for delivering platitudes, so when he waxed poetic about the England international after the match, one couldn’t help but believe him.
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“Harry Kane is a special player in the history of the club. He will beat every possible record. We had very good individual performances today,” said Mourinho of his star striker to BT Sport.
“At the end of the season you have the truth, we will be where we belong, where we deserve to be," he added.
West Brom manager Sam Allardyce is also well-aware of Kane’s power, especially when he’s free to roam around and given the space to make magic happen.
“The downside is letting the goals in we let in after containing them in the first half,” Allardyce said to BBC Sport. “Seeing Harry Kane in our box unmarked. That lapse at this level just can’t happen. We should be stopping that at the source.”
From promising lad to world-class striker
27-year-old Kane is considered one of the best strikers in the world. The England international went through the Spurs youth academy and was promoted to the senior team at age 16 in 2009.
Though he was loaned out to many clubs, from Leicester City to Norwich City, he rose to prominence at the Spurs under Mauricio Pochettino in 2014.
Kane made his presence known quickly. In his first full season with the Spurs (2014-15), he scored 31 goals across all competitions. At the time, he was the Premier League’s second-highest goal-scorer, second only to Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero.
The following two seasons, however, he was the top goalscorer in the league.
It was only until the arrival of Mohamed Salah in 2017-18 that he was knocked off top spot. Salah bested Kane by two goals, for a total of 32 to Kane’s 30.
In the last two seasons of the EPL, Kane has dropped down the list significantly. In 2018-19, he made it to joint sixth place with City’s Raheem Sterling. In 2019-20, he was against sharing sixth place, this time with Liverpool’s Sadio Mane.
At the moment, Kane is the joint-second top scorer in the 2020-21 season of the Premier League, with 13 goals. Salah is at the top with 16.
