Is Harry Kane Racing Towards a PFA Award for the 2017-18 Season?

The rise of Harry Kane has to be one of the fairy-tales in the world of football. The incredible media hype surrounding the young players mean that football fans knew about the potential of players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Neymar even before they had become established first-team names. Kane is quite different as he was not mentioned in the same breath as those players while coming through the ranks at Tottenham. Yet, Kane could soon be rubbing shoulders with those players at the Ballon d’Or award ceremonies if he continues at the same pace.

Kane did not make his league debut for Tottenham until the 2012-13 season. Even though he had been at the club since 2009, the England striker was not deemed good enough for the first team. In fact, he has been away on four loan spells since turning pro with Spurs but just one of those moves was to a Premier League team. Fans got a glimpse of Kane during the 2013-14 season when he scored three goals in 10 games, but he announced his arrival in style with 21 goals in 34 league matches during the 2014-15 season.

It seemed that Kane would not be able to improve on the 29 goals scored last season, but the 24-year-old may prove otherwise after having had a blistering start to the 2017-18 season. Kane is already one of the favourites to win the Golden Boot award of this year. Surprisingly, Kane has not won the PFA Player of the Year title, although he was given the PFA Fans’ Player of the Year award last season. The striker is already looking like a great pick to get his hands on the real deal this time around, and Kane is priced at an attractive 9/2 in the latest PFA Player of the Year betting odds from Betway.

It is inevitable for any top team to depend on one or two players for a major chunk of the goals; Tottenham are no different with the team heavily dependent on Harry Kane and Dele Alli. Even when there is a huge amount of pressure on his shoulders, Harry Kane has been able to produce the goods time and time again. Still only 24 years old, the striker may have a long way to go before he hits his peak. After all, he has played in less than 250 career games.

The aspect that separates players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi is the sheer amount of goals that they score. There have been campaigns in which they have scored more than 40 goals and this has raised the benchmark for players aiming to win the Ballon d’Or award – or indeed any other top individual honour. Harry Kane is now inching towards this figure, as he has scored more than 30 goals in two of the last three seasons. He has already raced to 11 in just nine games this season and Spurs look on course for another campaign near the top of the table.

Antonio Conte described the Kane as the perfect striker in the world; the Chelsea boss did not see Ronaldo or Messi as being fit for this description and it says volumes about the quality possessed by Kane. The England striker is truly a complete player since he can do the lot – score from headers, score with both feet, hold-up the ball, run channels, and play on the shoulder of the defensive line. Strikers who fit all these elements are a rare breed. Even those rare players are either unable to fulfil the potential due to reasons like injuries or lack of focus. Kane is not just a great physical specimen, but he manages to transform his right qualities into results on the pitch through his professional attitude.

Tottenham are not favourites for the Premier League, but one can be sure that Kane would be in the mix for the top English awards come the end of the season. Over the years, there have been players who have failed to win individual honours even when they have deserved it the most. Kane is unlikely to go down that path, as he is already making waves across in the game with his goalscoring exploits. In many ways, Kane is not just a contender for the PFA awards but he may eventually be taking home the Ballon d’Or award. We are truly looking at a great striker in the making.