and power, he made up for in
vision and intelligence. Even so,
his path to irst-team football
was neither direct nor smooth.
He made his professional debut
on what was, in efect, a bog at
Rochdale while on loan at Orient
in League One – a world away
from White Hart Lane and
the Premiership.
Kane would have been
forgiven for thinking he might
never make it, especially after
being farmed out by his parent
club for the fourth time. “I think
the one moment [I doubted
myself] was when I was on loan
at Norwich and at Leicester,”
he admits now. “When I was at
Leicester, I wasn’t playing – I was
on the bench. In my head
at that time was: ‘If I can’t
play for Leicester in the
Championship, how am I going
to play for Tottenham in the
Premier League?’
“I think that was my lowest
point. But then, it was also kind
of my strongest point as well,
because that’s the time
I had to believe in myself more
than ever, work harder than ever,
and go on to achieve what I did.”
KEEPING IT SIMPLE
Kane received inspiration from
the story of an American football
player – the New England
Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady.
“I watched a documentary
about him around the time I was
struggling, called The Brady 6,”
he recalls. “It showed how he
made it to where he is now, and
how much he believed
in himself.”
Brady was picked 199th
in the 2000 draft and wasn’t
expected to go on to great things,
much less become the greatest
of all time. His report from the
NFL scouting combine was
unfavourable: “poor build”,
“skinny”, “lacks great physical
stature and strength”.
“At that time, I remember
watching the ilm and it was,
like, ‘Okay, it’s not impossible.
There are people who have done
it,’” says Kane. “I just needed to
do what he’d done: work harder,
believe in myself more, and
hopefully, one day, become one
of the best. It sounds silly, but it
was a big moment in my life.” As
an NFL fan, Kane supports the
Patriots mainly because of Brady,
which is also the name he gave
to one of his two Labradors. The
other, Wilson – after the Super
Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks
quarterback Russell Wilson – was
named by Kane’s iancée, Kate
Goodland, a itness instructor he
met at school. They announced
in January that they were
expecting their second child.
Tom Brady is well known
for his commitment to itness,
which has enabled him to play
at the age of 40 in a sport where
the average career length for
quarterbacks is four years. While
some of his practices border on
pseudoscience, if there’s an edge
to be gained, Brady’s not sleeping
on it. He goes to bed every night
at 8.30pm wearing bioceramic-
infused Under Armour pyjamas,
which relect back something
called “far-infrared energy”.
He doesn’t consume alcohol,
cafeine, dairy or “nightshades”
(tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms
and eggplant), which he believes
cause inlammation. All of this
is outlined in his TB12 Nutrition
Manual, available from his
website for $200.
If Brady’s theories sound
far-fetched, Kane isn’t one to
criticise. “It’s worth it,” he says.
“I’ve got it at home. I haven’t read
it all yet, but when you look at his
dedication, there are always little
percentages [to gain], whether it’s
training, diet or recovery. They’re
the big diferences, because in
our football, the margins of error
are so small.”
Kane partly credits his
improved form and recovery
in 2017 to a personal chef with
expertise in sports nutrition,
who, among other things,
tailored his carb intake for
training and games. Kane also
refrains from drinking during the
season – it just isn’t worth it.
He keeps himself on ice as
much as he can. “My schedule is
all about recovery,” he tells me.
If he’s not soaking, stretching or
having a deep-tissue massage,
he’ll chill at home, which is an
important part of the process.
Nothing more strenuous than
some golf or walking the dogs?
“Right. I think that’s where a
lot of footballers maybe get it
a bit wrong. They try to do too
much, especially at a young age,”
says Kane.
When he mentions that
Boss Bottled United is “good to
have whenever I’m out”, I ask
him whether his strict regimen
allows him to go out very often.“Not really, no,” he says, with a
somewhat rueful smile. “Now
and then, with the missus. More
for meals.”
It’s a mental image that sits
well with the perception of
him as a player from a more
wholesome, bygone era. With his
old-fashioned name and haircut,
Kane gives the impression that
he would be more at home on
a cigarette card next to Stanley
Matthews than on a Milan
catwalk. “I’m ine with that,” he
says. “My style is quite simple,
quite plain. It’d be great to be
a fashion icon, but I think it STYLIST: TONY COOK; GROOMING: CHARLOTTE GASKELL