Harry Kane is relishing playing under his great friend and former team-mate Ryan Mason.
The Academy graduates first played together for our Under-18s in the 2008/09 season and, after loan spells, both established themselves in the first team in 2014/15, when Ryan played 37 times and Harry 51, scoring 31 goals. Both also made their England debuts that season - Ryan off the bench for his only cap away to Italy, 31 March 2015, which marked Harry’s first start after his goalscoring debut off the bench against Lithuania four days earlier.
So much has happened since, but it’s unlikely the pair would have imagined the current scenario back in 2008, Ryan as our Interim Head Coach with Harry, one of the best strikers in the world, spearheading our attack.
“I said when Ryan first got the job that I was really excited for him,” said Harry after opening the scoring in Sunday’s 2-1 win against Wolves, his 22nd in the Premier League, 32nd of the season and 220th goal for Spurs.
“He’s been brilliant. He’s taken it on really well. It’s not an easy thing to do to come in without any experience and take the team, take training, take all the meetings and he’s handled it all really well.
“He’s also got us playing some great football. I want to win as much as I can for him, and hopefully we can finish with two more. That’s all we can control.”
We dominated against Wolves and Harry struck the post and had a header cleared off the line before opening the scoring just before half-time. He then hit the post again, as did Dele, before Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg followed in Gareth Bale’s shot for 2-0. In total, we racked up 24 attempts in a convincing 2-0 win.
That’s what we need, everyone playing at their highest level and to see how high we can finish at the end of the season
Harry said: “We played really well, controlled the game from start to finish, limited them to few chances, clean sheet, great performance and it sets us up nicely for a busy week.”
Dele impressed in his third successive start, and Harry added: “Dele has been great, ready for his opportunity again, working hard behind the scenes at the training ground, in the gym and he’s looking very good. That’s what we need, everyone playing at their highest level and to see how high we can finish at the end of the season.”