How Harry Kane went from a 'chubby' Arsenal reject to an England great

Birds flit and soar against the backdrop of the jagged London skyline, a mother guides a pram along a path in the park, three kids knock a football around on green, green grass and a man walks his dog.

In the midst of this scene, an animated version of a young Harry Kane sits on a bench with his dad.

Kane’s voice provides the soundtrack to the short film that was made for the launch of his foundation a couple of years ago. ‘Rejection is a tricky thing when you’re a kid,’ he says, ‘and when I was eight years old, I was released by Arsenal.

‘My dad was the one who told me. I wasn’t old enough to fully understand the meaning of rejection. And dad didn’t show any signs of disappointment. He just put his arm around me and said “we go again and work even harder and let’s see where it takes us”. And so we did.

‘Dad then told me Tottenham wanted me. I took the opportunity and put in the hard work. I was desperate to make the first team. But I had to be patient and I had to keep believing in myself. I kept thinking to myself before every game “I am going to do it. I am going to work as hard as possible”.

‘But then I was sent out on loan. There was self-doubt but I didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for me. There were some really tough times. I kept repeating to myself “we go again and work even harder”. I knew my chance was going to come.’

Kane’s chance did come but it did not come easily. The film depicts him sitting on the substitutes’ bench at Spurs. It shows him in the colours of the clubs where he went out on loan across three seasons of his footballing life, at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich City and Leicester City.

It shows him sitting alone in a dressing room, forlorn and despondent.

In the end, yes, it does record the success that has followed. A commentator’s voice is heard describing the moment Kane scores a crucial goal for his country before offering the opinion that ‘Kane is England’s priceless gem’.

But the reality of Kane’s career stays with us: this is not a player who walked a gilded path to the greatness he has achieved through a deluxe academy, acclaimed all the way as the next big thing.

This is not a player who was feted from the start, who was marked out for stardom like Steven Gerrard, perhaps, or Wayne Rooney or David Beckham, although Beckham, too, worked his passage with a loan spell at Preston North End.

Kane was never like that. He was the ‘chubby’ kid rejected by Liam Brady at Arsenal because he was not athletic enough, because he was slow. And the best judges at the time could not see him getting quicker.

And because of all that, because of that history, because of the struggle, because of the loans in the lower leagues, there is something relatable about Kane. Alongside his brilliance as one of the greatest all-round centre forwards of his generation, it is the studied ordinariness of Kane that makes him stand out as an exceptional character.

It is still there now, even as he prepares to win his 100th cap for England either against Finland at Wembley on Tuesday night if interim manager Lee Carsley picks him for his second game in four days, or in the next international break in October.

Kane is not in his best moment. He was England’s top scorer at the European Championships in Germany but he had a disappointing tournament by his own standards and admitted as much in the build-up to the Nations League tie against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

Kane looked sluggish again in England’s 2-0 win at the Aviva Stadium and missed at least one chance he would normally have converted. But he has been written off before many times, criticism he tends to answer by scoring more goals.

For those who say he is too slow and that he should be dropped by England, stranded on 99 for now, it might be worth mentioning that the only kind of pace he has ever been reliant on is his speed of thought.

It might be also be worth mentioning the Bayern Munich striker was the top scorer in the Bundesliga last season and the top scorer in the Champions League, too, as well as the joint winner of the Golden Boot in Germany. He scored a goal for every 79 minutes he played in the Bundesliga and won the Golden Shoe for European football’s top scorer. It may be a little hasty to mourn his decline.

For all the individual accolades he has won, there is nothing starry about him, nothing that says he is trying to put a barrier between him and us. Even as he prepares to join the most exclusive of international clubs, there is still something about him that makes him our everyman.

It is time to tell a quick story. It is a vignette and nothing more. After England had beaten The Netherlands at the Westfalenstadion to reach the final of the European Championship in the summer, I finished my work and went to the bar of the Dorint Hotel near the stadium to wait for the traffic to clear and call a taxi.

A group of England fans at a neighbouring table saw me sitting by myself, called me over and invited me to join them. It was only when I sat down that I realised it was Kane’s wife, Kate, and her parents and some of the rest of their family.

They knew I was a sports journalist but that didn’t change their desire to be hospitable. We talked for a couple of hours. About ordinary things. They were the nicest people. Their generosity of spirit to someone they didn’t know has stayed with me. It was one of the best evenings of my five weeks in Germany.

I’ve added it to my reasons to be a lasting admirer of the England captain. There are plenty of others, not least his refusal to be dragged away from the essence of what he is by the lure of commercialism and self-promotion.

He is also, quite comfortably, one of the best players England has ever produced. He deserves every one of his 99 caps so far. He is underrated, perhaps because of his lack of arrogance and show. Our society often values image above deeds and Kane does not play that game.

He is, though, one of the most complete players we have ever produced. He has the guile and the intelligence of Teddy Sheringham and the scoring power of Alan Shearer. He can play as a target man or in the pocket, with equal effectiveness.

He is the best scorer in the England team and the best passer of the ball, too. His vision, his appreciation of space, his ability to find time and his clinical finishing have taken the kid who Spurs sent out on loan to Orient to places most forwards can only dream of.

There are only nine players in England’s 100 Club: Billy Wright, Bobby Moore, Sir Bobby Charlton, Peter Shilton, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney. In that context, as so often on the pitch, Kane will be a perfect 10.

At some point in the next few matches, perhaps before the Nations League tie against Greece at Wembley next month, Kane will be presented with a golden cap to mark his own ascension to the club that is confined to an elite few.

It will increase his hold on immortality and perhaps he will be even more proud of his place in it than the Golden Boot he won for being the leading goalscorer at the 2018 World Cup and that European Championship in the summer just passed.

His appearances, after all, represent a body of work for England second only in that 100 Club to that put together by Moore and Charlton. Moore and Charlton won the World Cup and even if Kane is part of a generation that fell at the final hurdle, he has got closer to lifting a trophy than anyone since 1966.

It was Kane who led England to the final of both Euro 2020 under Gareth Southgate and then to that climactic game against Spain in Berlin a couple of months ago when a major tournament slipped from England’s grasp again at the last.

Along the way, he has scored more goals for his country than any other player. He has 66 already and he is stretching his lead with every game. Raheem Sterling, with 20 England goals and Marcus Rashford with 17, are his closest challengers among active players. Kane’s record is going to stand for a long, long time.

He is a great goalscorer rather than a scorer of great goals and so it is hard to pick out stellar moments in his England career such as, for instance, Beckham’s curling free kick against Greece in that World Cup qualifier at Old Trafford in 2001, Rooney’s breakout performances at Euro 2004.

There is nothing, obviously, to rank alongside Moore’s part in winning the World Cup and even his performance against Pele at the tournament in 1970. Nor does he have the signature moments of Charlton’s match-winning performances and goals against Mexico and Portugal in 1966.

But no one outside the Boys of 66 have those moments and part of Kane’s value to the national team, like Rooney’s before him, has been as one of the great team players. For a striker bedecked with individual awards, he has been one of England’s best creators, too.

The great absence in his career is team trophies. After missing out on the Bundesliga title last season and falling agonisingly short with England in the Euro24 final against Spain in Berlin, he will be desperate to put that right at the first opportunity with Bayern this season.

Scratching the itch with England will be more difficult but not impossible. Kane is surrounded by sublime attacking talents in Carsley’s squad and he will only be 32 when the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico begins and ends.

There are pretenders to his England throne but, of the best of them, Ivan Toney has just moved to Saudi Arabia and Marcus Rashford is desperately out of form. Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke are his main rivals.

Kane may have faltered in recent months but he is still the man in possession, still the striker to look to first, still the striker that instils most respect in opponents when they see his name on the England team sheet.

He is one game away from his century but he has the talent, the dedication and the humility to lead England into one more shot at the major trophy that has eluded them for so long.