FROM a snap with Goldenballs as a kid, to a shot at winning the Golden Ball if he can deliver World Cup glory.
Harry Kane’s amazing career will hit another landmark in their tournament-opener tonight as it will draw him level on 115 caps with his hero Sir David Beckham.
Harry Kane has opened up on the prospect of matching David Beckham’s cap total Credit: Getty
Kane (right) and his future wife Kate, (left) were pictured together alongside Beckham in their youth Credit: Rex Features
No doubt the milestone will soon be left for dust in the rear-view mirror as the Bayern Munich superstar — who has the Ballon d’Or in his sights — sets about breaking every record going for his nation.
But this one is particularly meaningful to the Three Lions skipper, as fellow was the player he idolised as a youngster.
That fanboying of Becks has been immortalised in an image of an 11-year-old Kane, , with the former Manchester United and Real Madrid icon at the Beckham Academy in Greenwich, in 2005.
England’s 79-goal record-scorer Kane, who, like Beckham, attended Chingford Foundation School, said: “I’m extremely proud to, hopefully, reach the same amount of caps as Sir David.
“He was a hero of mine growing up. I was a massive England fan and him being captain, he was a big inspiration, just the way he worked on the pitch but also how he was off it. We were from the same area, went to the same school. I loved watching him play.
“That picture with me and him and my wife there, who was just a friend at the time, it’s a pretty crazy picture.
“To be where I am now, it’s always hard to really take it all in.
“When you’re young, especially at that age, I was 11 years old, you just have dreams and aspirations of trying to become a footballer.
“Now to be hopefully making 115 caps and going to my sixth tournament, being captain for as long as I have, the goalscoring record, all these are extremely proud things.
“But things I won’t truly be able to appreciate until whenever I stop because it’s just about the next thing, the next moment.”
Today it is Kane who is the player every young England football fan wants to be — and the one we are all relying on to end 60 years of hurt this summer.
That starts with another showdown against Croatia, eight years on from breaking England hearts in the 2018 World Cup semi-final.
Modric won the Golden Ball as the tournament’s top player, while Kane took the Golden Boot with six goals in Russia. But the Three Lions idol has gone up several levels since then.
He is in the form of his life after scoring and is ready to carry the weight of his country’s expectations.
The former Tottenham striker feels unburdened after finally landing silverware with the German giants over the last two seasons.
Kane, 32, added: “There’s a different feeling. To have that weight off my shoulders is important.
“Especially this year having the trophies and having the cup final where I scored a hat-trick, my first big moment in a final — that is only going to help me as a player.
“The fact I’ve won those trophies means I’m seen a bit differently from the outside or by people around and maybe even team-mates.”
At Qatar 2022, Kane uncharacteristically blazed a penalty over the bar in the quarter-final exit to France.
While that was the worst tournament finish of the Sir Gareth Southgate era, Kane looks back on it as some of the best football played under the ex-Middlesbrough chief.
That deflating experience has also put the fire in Kane’s belly to go all the way under Southgate’s successor Thomas Tuchel this time round.
The lethal centre-forward said: “It’s very rare you’re going to have a career at this level, play at that many tournaments, without having some ups and downs along the way.
“The downs have motivated me to be better, going back to the last World Cup and the disappointment with the way that ended.
“It gave me an extra bite, an extra edge to really improve and push on.
“And get back to this stage where I am now. I couldn’t be in a better place, from that sense.”
Kane warned fans they may have to be patient this summer and keep their heads if Tuchel’s men do not get off to a flier tonight.
But he did admit to imagining himself lifting the World Cup trophy next month — a feat his hero Becks got nowhere near achieving.
Kane admitted: “It’s hard not to think about lifting it.
“It’s not something I think about loads but those pictures pop into your head every now and then.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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