Is Harry Kane the man to break Alan Shearer’s Premier League record?

In public Harry Kane hasn’t shied away from his ambition to one day break Shearer’s record, I guess in this context, taking each game as it comes is out of the window. As each week goes, it is looking more and more likely that he will certainly come close if not break the record. Due to Kane’s terrific form in September even Shearer has expressed his anxiety through columns regarding his record stating ‘Harry Kane has all the tools to top my Premier League goal scoring record’. Surely if anybody can do it, Harry can.   

Advantageous head start

One thing that is certainly on Kane’s side, is the head start he currently occupies. At the age of 24, Harry already has an outstanding 84 Premier League goals whereas if you were to compare that to Shearer’s total at 24 then Kane is on top as Shearer at the same age had 47. Let’s not forget though that the early stages of Shearer’s career, whilst at Southampton, the Premier League hadn’t been created yet. Up to this point, the darling of White Hart Lane has already achieved more in his short career than what most players can ever achieve. This includes 3 back to back seasons of scoring over 20 PL goals, a feat only achieved by Henry, Van Nisterlrooy and Shearer himself, in the process Kane has won back to back golden boots and also a nomination for this year’s Ballon d’OR. World Class. All the tools and stats seem to be placed for Harry to go on and break the record but it is how he builds on from this which will be the deciding factor.  

Injuries

Throughout a player’s career, they are bound to have injuries on the way, for Kane however it is just about how serious and how often those injuries will be. If it wasn’t for major injuries then Alan Shearer would certainly have scored a lot more goals in the Premier League then what he already has so as you can see injuries do halt a player. In Kane’s career so far, he has already had one serious injury last season when he was ruled out for 8 weeks but on the contrary you could say that it didn’t seem to stop him much, as he came back with a bang scoring in the North London derby and then going onto win the golden boot. Even though they haven’t stopped him much so far, they could quite easily in the future especially when Kane is getting to the latter stages of his career. Obviously, injuries could quite easily dampen his quality and career, for example, look at Daniel Sturridge. That said however, mentally Kane is one of the world’s best so he would have the mental strength to pick himself up from injuries just like last season.

Transfers

Through Kane’s career and due to Spurs’ history of selling players, it seems like fans and the media are obsessed with associating Kane and a transfer away from North London. Despite Tottenham’s selling history though, this is different, you can see that Harry is determined to stay at Spurs, win trophies, captain his boyhood club and break all kinds of records with the club he has been at since the age of 11. Danny Rose has stated that he can see this is what Kane wants and even Harry himself repeatedly has said he doesn’t see a reason why he wouldn’t spend his entire career at Tottenham. If the unlikely scenario does happen though, then this would be the reason why Shearer is safe with his baby. If a transfer was to happen then it’d be a move abroad therefore stopping his hunt for Alan’s record.

Consistency

If Harry stays at Spurs then his goal scoring consistency will be a key factor and if he can build on from how consistent he already is. Consistency is one of the reasons why Shearer holds the record, scoring over 20 Premier League goals in 7 different seasons. If Kane stays away from severe injuries, stays at Spurs and his quality doesn’t deteriorate much as he gets older then there is no reason why his goal scoring wouldn’t be consistent over the coming 10 years and he would certainly come close to Shearer. With his current 84 league goals then on average he would have to score 16 league goals per season up to the age of 35 to break the record. The age Alan Shearer retired at. The quality of the teammates around Kane will also have a say because at Newcastle Shearer wasn’t in a consistent title challenging team with top class teammates, whereas if Tottenham stay consistent at the level they are currently at, then Kane will be around top players which will help him in his hunt.

Will he do it?

Evidently, there is still a long way to go for the Tottenham golden boy but with the right players, the right manager and with luck on his side then I cannot see any reason why he will not break the long standing record.