England bank on Kane's golden boot at Euro 2016
By Martyn Herman LONDON (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur fans love to serenade local lad Harry Kane with the chant "He's One of Our Own" but the whole of England will be singing his name if his rich scoring streak takes his country deep into Euro 2016. Kane has emerged as his country's most natural goalscorer since Alan Shearer and scooped the Premier League's Golden Boot prize this season with 25 goals, the first English striker to lead the charts for 16 years. He scored one more than Leicester City's Jamie Vardy and Manchester City's Sergio Aguero and while Vardy has bagged a Premier League winners' medal, Kane is most likely to lead England's attack when they kick off against Russia on June 11. His rise has been meteoric. Two years ago his future at Tottenham looked uncertain after a series of loan spells, including one at Leicester. However, Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino's faith was rewarded last season when Kane established himself in the first team and scored 21 league goals. After a sluggish start to this season, he took his game to a new level, scoring 25. He now has 49 goals in 81 league games. Kane marked his England debut last year with a goal 80 seconds after coming on against Lithuania and has five goals in 11 appearances for his country. Born close to former England captain David Beckham and former England and Tottenham forward Teddy Sheringham, he also shares some of their attributes. While lacking the straight-line speed of Vardy, like Sheringham he is adept at locating space, linking the play and, above all, shooting with deadly accuracy. Like Beckham, his work rate is exemplary and he boasts vision and ability from dead-ball situations. "You see a player like that and he has got an honesty about the way he plays and that is what I love seeing," Beckham said. "He works hard and you can tell he cares about the game and playing for our country." Sheringham, who helped England to reach the semi-finals of Euro '96, also likes what he sees and believes Kane will arrive in France on a high after an outstanding season. "He's a fantastic player, full of goals, full of optimism, full of confidence," Sheringham said. "I like that he's not just one particular type of striker. He can run in behind, he can hold the ball up, win it in the air, drop off, lay people in, has lovely touch, finesse and vision and sees other players around him." (Edited by Neil Robinson)
