Tottenham’s Harry Kane inspired by meeting Diego Maradona

Tottenham striker Harry Kane has reiterated a desire to become the best player on the planet and says meeting Diego Maradona, one of the all-time greats, was further inspiration.

Maradona, a former teammate of Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino at Newell’s Old Boys, was Spurs’ guest at Wembley for the 4-1 win against Liverpool on Sunday.

The Argentina legend, who won the 1986 World Cup, met Kane before the match and watched from the executive box as Spurs’ No. 10 scored twice and set up a third in another standout performance.


Asked if the meeting with Maradona, who was accompanied by Spurs legend Ossie Ardiles, had inspired him, Kane said: “Exceptionally. He was such a down-to-earth, great guy. That’s what it’s about, meeting these people, just feeling their good positive vibes and using that in my game, taking it on the pitch and enjoying it out there.

“He’s a fantastic guy. I got to meet him before the game — great energy, great guy. He is one of the best No. 10s ever so it was great for him to be here. He didn’t speak much English, just Spanish, but he was very energetic. He had some nice compliments — not just to me but to the team and to the manager. It was great to be in the company of someone like that. What a player he was and I can only learn from someone like him.

“Maradona was chatting, laughing, joking, good energy about him. Everyone would probably be in awe of him. What a player he was, still argued to be the best of all time so to have him here and watch us play well was important.”

England international Kane’s double moved him onto 45 goals for club and country in 2017, further proof that he is approaching the levels of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who, like Maradona, are considered among the greatest players in history.

“That’s what I want to do,” he said. “At some stage I want to be the best player in the world and to do that you have to be up there with these players. They set the standards, Ronaldo and Messi, so for the rest of us it’s about trying to catch them and get up there.

“The numbers are good, but for me it’s more important to be winning these big games against big teams. It shows we are coming together as a team and getting better. That’s the most important thing. Fifty [goals this year] would be nice but we will see where we finish at the end of the year but it’s always my aim to be up there with the very best.”

The comfortable win, in which Son Heung-Min and Dele Alli also scored, moved Spurs level on points with second-place Manchester United, who they play at Old Trafford next weekend.

For the third season running, many doubted Spurs’ title credentials before the start of the season, believing the Manchester clubs would be too strong, but Kane says they are proving their detractors wrong again.

He said: “People will always have this little doubt about us until we start winning things. It doesn’t bother us, we don’t think about it too much. It’s a big game next week, of course [Manchester] City are out in front at the moment but there are a lot of good teams, the top six are so strong. Performances like this, winning games like this, is something we maybe didn’t do as well last year, so if we can continue that this year it will be good.

“With United dropping points [at Huddersfield on Saturday], the win against Liverpool gave us a chance to catch them up and next week is going to be a massive game we’re looking forward to. We have a lot of tough games coming up but performances like this will only help us.”