Jermain Defoe tells Harry Kane he can keep playing for another decade or more
Jermain Defoe has told Harry Kane that the striker still has another decade of professional football left in him.
Kane will turn 29 this summer and the striker reportedly feels fitter than he thought possible after working with Antonio Conte and his coaching staff since November (The Athletic).
Some might have had fears over the striker’s recurring ankle problems until a couple of years ago but the England captain seems to have now put those issues behind him.
The striker admitted in an interview with Gary Neville on the Overlap last year that he does not feel he is anywhere close to the end of his career and he expects to be playing for a long time to come
One man who has done just that is Defoe, who announced his retirement from the professional game in March of this year aged 39.
The former Tottenham man had a conversation with Kane for Spurs TV last week in a video titled ‘The history of Harry Kane’, where the pair discussed the Spurs vice-captain’s journey through the youth system to become one of the club’s biggest-ever superstars.
Another topic they touched on was longevity, with Defoe telling the Spurs star that he could still continue playing now if he wanted to.
Here is the transcript of the conversation between the pair:
Harry Kane: “Yeah, I’m 28 now, 29 in the summer.”
Jermain Defoe: “Another 10 years, 11 years.”
HK: “Yeah man, I feel good and I think the way I play as well, like I’m not relying on pace, or…”
JD: “It’s perfect, it’s perfect. Especially when you’ve got runners off you and you can just walk into those little pockets and then do your stuff and that.”
HK: “How old are you now?”
JD “39 H, 39, so literally just finished.”
HK: “But do you still feel good?”
JD: “Literally now, I could still play now.”
HK: “Yeah, yeah.”
JD: “Obviously you still get the niggles and like my ankles and my back and all that sort of stuff but I still feel, I still feel…it weren’t a case where I’m training and I can’t get my shots off, shots are getting blocked and that. The lads were still saying to me ‘JD, how are you this sharp at 39’, because like you [Kane], I’ve looked after myself from day one.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Footballers are certainly having much longer careers than they used to, partly owing to improvements in sports science and injury prevention.
Kane is as professional as they come when it comes to taking care of his body and so, there is no reason to think he will not be able to go on until his late thirties.
The fact that the England captain is not overly reliant on his pace or athleticism, means that he is likely to have a longer career than most forwards.
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