After seeing Harry Kane win the Ballon d’Or, one former Tottenham striker has reflected on how the England captain’s rise coincided with his own demise.

It is fair to say that back in the summer of 2014, not many Spurs fans would have even batted an eyelid if the club had sold young Harry Kane.

The centre-forward was never the most talented player in the Tottenham academy across any of the age groups, and when he first broke through, he seemed too immobile and lacking in the athleticism required to make it at Premier League level.

That argument was strengthened further by his struggles out on loan in the Championship, but Kane never looked back once he got his opportunities at Spurs, and kept improving year on year. The one season wonder who refused to fizzle out.

That desire to keep getting better has now seen him climb to the summit of the game and be crowned the best player in the world for 2026 at the Ballon d’Or ceremony.

Roberto Soldado opens up about how Harry Kane shut the door on him at Tottenham

Roberto Soldado arrived at Spurs in 2013 with a big price tag and reputation as one of the finest finishers in the game, but he never managed to showcase his best in a Tottenham shirt.

The Spain international saw firsthand as Kane came from the youth side to overtake him and Emannuel Adebayor in the pecking order, and he has admitted that the striker’s finishing left him in awe from the start.

Soldado said about Kane: “He’d come up to train with us, and in training you’d see him finish, and you’d say, ‘Damn, this kid’.

“We played in the Premier League, the Europa League, and the FA Cup and Carling Cup. The kid would come on, get minutes, and score goals, and score goals, and score goals. It crushed me, it crushed me. He kept earning more and more minutes in every competition, and well, he overtook us, like a rocket.”

On Kane winning the Ballon d’Or, Soldado explained: “Those of you who knew he was something special weren’t wrong, because look, even now, and it’s been quite a while, he’s still a world-class striker.”

Why Kane’s Ballon d’Or win makes him the ideal example to all youngsters

If one looks at the illustrious names who have won the Ballon d’Or across its existence, they are all names who were just supremely gifted from a very young age.

However, Kane, despite being as good a player as many of those other names, is an odd one out, as he was never as naturally gifted as those greats.

The former Tottenham man’s story is one of hard work and constant desire to get better, which has eventually earned him the ultimate individual prize in the biggest sport in the world.

Kane is thus a perfect example to young players, with his career being proof of the adage: “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.”