Harry Kane wears two different numbers for club and country and has now explained his curious decision to snub the No.9 shirt at Tottenham in favour of his “special” jersey
Harry Kane reveals why he rejected the no.9 shirt for Tottenham Hotspur in favour of his preferred current no.10 jersey.
The striker is regarded among some of the greatest forwards on the planet, having scored over 200 goals for Spurs since bursting onto the scene in 2014.
Over the years, Kane has combined classic centre-forward play in the mould of traditional no.9s with the playmaking ability of a no.10.
He wore No.18 when making the most of a big waves scoring 31 goals in all competitions.
“No.18 was my first big season for Spurs, I would say,”
“I played a bit under Tim Sherwood the season before. I went from 38 to 37 and then down to 18. I might have been 35, but I don’t know if I played in 35.
“No.18 was when [Jermain] Defoe went, so he said to me ‘you can have my number’. I spoke to the kit man and he gave it to me.
“It was a great season, the first time I was playing regularly in the Premier League, played some great games – scored goals against Arsenal, Chelsea – and that gave me great confidence playing against the top teams and managing to do well.”
Kane then jumped at the chance to wear Tottenham’s No. 10 jersey back in 2015-16.
Why does Harry Kane wear No.10 for Tottenham?
Harry Kane in Tottenham No.10 jersey (Getty Images)
Explaining his decision to favour 10 over nine for Spurs, Kane told BT Sport:
Kane said: “I feel like ten for Spurs was just a bigger number.
I just felt like I wanted to be No.10 for Tottenham. The No.9 for England I feel like is a bigger number for a striker – there have been some great No.9s.
“I just thought at Tottenham that the 10 was a bigger number and more responsibility.”
“You had Robbie Keane, Glenn Hoddle and Teddy Sheringham. So I just felt like I wanted to be no.10 for Tottenham
He added on the pressure of emulating the efforts of previous No.10s in north London: “I think it brings the best out of you.
“Obviously it is just a number, but I think what it represents to fans around the world, young boys and girls watching you play, hopefully they will one day try to be the No.10 of Tottenham themselves.
“It adds a bit more pressure, but I enjoy that. I want to represent the club well and I feel like taking the No.10 shirt was the best way of doing that.”
He added: “To be fair growing up, youth team days, I wore no.10 a lot. I kind of played in that no.10 role
I played as a number 10 my whole youth team career, even when I got into the Tottenham team I played as a 10 behind [Roberto] Soldado and [Emmanuel] Adebayor.
“With the 10 shirt, Robbie Keane, Glenn Hoddle, and the history of the shirt is why I wanted that shirt.
The 28-year-old is on the verge of breaking Alan Shearer Premier League’s all-time highest goal scorer and also has 67 caps for the England national team, who he has captained to a World Cup semi-final and a Euros final winning the Golden boot in the tournament.
The Spurs man will look to go one step further in Qatar by becoming the first captain to lift the trophy since Bobby Moore in 1966