Tim Sherwood claims member of Conte’s coaching team was better than Kane
Tim Sherwood has admitted that Ryan Mason was a much bigger talent than Harry Kane when both players were coming through the ranks of the Tottenham academy.
Kane was certainly a late bloomer, with the striker struggling during his loan spells in the lower leagues as a youngster.
However, since establishing himself as a regular in Tottenham’s starting eleven under Mauricio Pochettino, Kane has not looked back.
The 28-year-old has been banging in goals with consistency over many years and is now widely recognised as one of the best strikers in world football.
In fact, the England captain is just 84 goals away from Alan Shearer’s all-time Premier League goal record (Premierleague.com) – a feat which he will fancy his chances of overtaking, given that he is only now coming into his peak years as a player.
However, Sherwood, who was a coach at Spurs during Harry Redknapp’s time at the club before taking over as the interim head coach from Andre Villas-Boas a few years later, has admitted that Kane was not the most highly rated talent in his age group in the Tottenham academy.
Sherwood told Premier League Productions (07/03/22 at 7:15 pm): “He’s like a cross between Teddy Sherringham and Alan Shearer, which is not bad.You have got half a chance when you have that sort of ability.
“He just loves scoring goals. As a youth player, he would pick the ball up from deep. He would drive with it as well. We had Ryan Mason, who is on the coaching staff at Tottenham, he was the pick of the two.
“If I said to you ‘someone is a podium player’, then I would have said ‘Ryan Mason’. But Harry has just continued to develop because he wants to work hard and continue developing.”
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It was not just Mason but even the likes of Tom Carroll, Andros Townsend and Steven Caulker were thought of as more promising prospects than Kane while coming through the ranks.
Even among strikers, Jonathan Obika looked like he was better equipped to succeed in the Premier League than Kane, who was not physically gifted as a youngster.
Kane’s career shows that not all players have the same development trajectory and that it is worth preserving with young players who have the right mentality, even if struggle initially.
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