HARRY KANE INTERVIEW: England captain opens up on having an ‘ego’, the secret behind Ballon d’Or glory, the ‘tough’ moments with his country – and why he isn’t finished yet

Harry Kane is contemplating his ego. England’s humble superstar, believes the outside world at least, does not have one. He laughs when reminded of his endearing habit of fiddling with his suit buttons during his Ballon d’Or acceptance speech.

But there must, surely, be one example beneath the modest exterior when he descends into a diva?

‘That’s a great question. I’m sure my wife will be able to say a thing or two!’ he returns. ‘But ego is funny, because ego is many different things. I guess I have an ego to be the best, because I want to be the best. I just don’t do it in a show-off way.’

Kane does have an ego, only it is measured in goals and self-improvement, not vanity and self-indulgence. He has the records because he wants the records, and he wants them more than all of his rivals. He played more games and scored more goals than Kylian Mbappe and Lamine Yamal last season. After his 126th cap against Croatia tonight, he would have played more games and scored more goals than any player in England’s history. He wants those records to stand, too. Ego, you see.

‘Jude (Bellingham) and Declan (Rice), they’re on 60-odd caps already and you look at how young they are,’ says Kane, as we chat at England’s base at the Tottenham Hotspur training ground. ‘So I’ll try and give them a good number to catch! The goal record (currently 91) is going to be the one that’s difficult to beat. I think that’s good!’

It’s better than good, Harry. It is hard to believe now, but Kane was billed as a one-season wonder after his 31-goal breakthrough campaign at Tottenham 11 years ago. He remembers that, just like he does rejection by Arsenal aged eight years old, his missed penalty against France at World Cup 2022, the loan spell at Norwich when he was demoted to the reserves and the loan at Leicester when he sat alone in his flat and wondered if he was good enough for the Premier League.

‘I’ve had to prove people wrong my whole career,’ he says. ‘If someone tells me I can’t do something, it motivates me to do it more. You look at all the great athletes, Tom Brady and that unwavering mentality to be the best. Maybe with me, because I’m a calm person and you don’t see the ego of some of these great players, it doesn’t mean I don’t want it as much as everyone else. It doesn’t mean I don’t put in the work and drive myself and everyone around me to be the best.

‘Getting released that early (by Arsenal) and proving them wrong. Proving my early coaches at Tottenham wrong, who I wasn’t playing as much under. Loan moves that didn’t go well. The World Cup in Qatar, missing that penalty was a really tough moment for me. After that, I scored the next 30 penalties! It’s the same thing, “I’m going to show them”, using all the negative stuff as motivation to push me to another level.’

Then there was Euro 2024, when Kane was substituted in the final defeat by Spain after an hour. The popular opinion went that his best days were behind him and England needed a new striker. He has since scored 25 goals from 27 international games. So much for the decline.

‘It was tough, getting taken off in a final,’ he says. ‘There was so much talk (before the final) around, “Maybe Harry shouldn’t start”. I was like, “Well hang on a minute, I’m doing my best for the team here”.

‘I scored three goals and was joint for the Golden Boot. It wasn’t like there were many other players doing crazy stuff that I wasn’t doing. But from my own standards, I know I probably didn’t quite reach the level that I could have. I don’t think the team reached the level that we could have. After that, my position was under pressure. That motivated me to make sure that it wasn’t. I was going to have to do even more to keep my place. From that moment, you’ve seen an improvement in me.’

Spend time with Kane, even just half an hour, and you realise he isn’t done yet.

’In football, you’ve never completed it,’ says the Bayern Munich star. ‘No matter what you’ve achieved, there is always a trophy that someone else has won or a goal record that someone else has. This is no time to rest. If anything, I’ve got better year on year, and the numbers have got better. While I’m feeling like this, why would I put any limit on myself? I’m just on the back of scoring 73 goals in one year, which is incredible, and I want to get 100 England goals as quickly as possible.

‘My biggest fear is finishing my career and thinking I could have done a bit more. I want to make sure that I cross every bridge and do everything possible so that, whenever that day comes, I can say, “I’ve done everything possible. I have this record, I don’t have this record, but it doesn’t matter, I can sleep well at night”.’

You could never accuse Kane of not giving his all. His ego, the best kind of ego, would never allow anything else. England’s greatest player is the diva who makes only demands of himself.