Harry Kane Equals England’s 36-Year-Old Cap Record Set by the Goalkeeper He Was Mistaken For at Six

• Harry Kane made his 125th England appearance against the Czech Republic this week, equalling Peter Shilton’s 36-year-old record for the most-capped Three Lions player.
• Kane started out as a goalkeeper at the age of six, with his first youth coach convinced the club had found a future number one until his mother said he was better out on the pitch.
• Arsenal rejected Kane at age 11 and Watford also passed on him before Tottenham gave him his chance; Peter Shilton himself has told Kane he expects him to break the record outright next month.

The Boy Who Was Supposed to Be a Goalkeeper

When a six-year-old Harry Kane turned up for trials at Ridgeway Rovers in 1999, the youth side that a generation earlier had produced David Beckham thought they had found themselves a new goalkeeper. Former Ridgeway coach Dave Bricknell remembers asking for a volunteer to go in goal in a shooting drill, and Kane put his hand up. “He performs heroics, makes some fantastic saves. He’s tipping it round the post, tipping a couple over the bar,” Bricknell said. “I’m thinking this is great, we’ve got a goalkeeper. And then this woman came up to me and said he’s better on the pitch.” Put in outfield instead, the boy “smacked goals in left, right and centre,” and Ridgeway had their new centre-forward.

That early mix-up looks almost funny now: Kane has just equalled a record that stood for 36 years. His 125th England cap, won against the Czech Republic in the Nations League this week, pulled him level with Peter Shilton as the most-capped player in Three Lions history. Shilton, the goalkeeper Kane was briefly mistaken for as a six-year-old, was quick to offer his congratulations. “You will go on and beat it in November I am sure of that, and maybe go on and set a record that may never be beaten,” Shilton wrote. “You’re still going strong Harry, still playing well and scoring goals. I know how much dedication and hard work you put into achieving this, especially as a striker as I think that is probably the hardest position to play with goalkeeper just behind it. You’ve been a great captain and will be in the future.”

Rejected at Eleven, Twice

Kane’s prolific scoring for Ridgeway Rovers and his Waltham Forest district side caught the eye of professional scouts early. Arsenal signed him as a boy, then let him go at age 11. Watford had the same chance and passed. Former Arsenal academy coach Alex Welsh remembers a competent goalkeeper who really wanted to score goals, and a finishing instinct that set him apart even then. “I am absolutely convinced that is the reason why he is such a clinical striker – he intuitively knows what the goalkeeper doesn’t like. He shoots early when the goalkeeper’s not set,” Welsh said. Former Ridgeway coach Bricknell believes Kane was second top scorer at Arsenal behind Benik Afobe before the club let him go at 11 “for some reason.”

Tottenham gave Kane the opening the other two clubs would not, and even there he was no obvious prospect. Alex Inglethorpe, Spurs’ youth-team coach when Kane joined at 13, is blunt about it. “I’d like to say he was the gold medallist in the group and we’d all spotted he was going to be the fantastic player, but I’d be lying. He probably wasn’t even on the podium,” Inglethorpe said. “If there was something that endeared him to you it was that he was very, very low maintenance. It became fairly evident when Harry became a scholar he was someone who could finish. He was wonderfully demanding to coach because he always wanted to stay out and do extra. That obsession to improve is undoubtedly his greatest strength.”

Four Loans and a Breakthrough

Kane’s path to the Tottenham first team ran through four separate loan spells in three seasons. At League One Leyton Orient in 2011, he scored five times in nine starts after coming on as a substitute for veteran striker Scott McGleish on his professional debut. McGleish recalls a teenager who wanted the grind rather than a shortcut. “Harry was not like other Premier League players, where you feel they’re going to come in ‘Billy Big Time.’ He wanted the experience of learning what I call men’s football,” McGleish said. “You could see in training and subsequently the matches he had ability and a desire to go further, but you’re still looking like a young 17-year-old: very slight, still needing to physically develop, not the quickest but technically excellent.”

A loan at Championship strugglers Millwall followed in 2012, where Kane’s nine goals helped save Kenny Jackett’s side from relegation in a notoriously hostile away atmosphere. Former Millwall defender Alan Dunne says the Den tends to break young loanees rather than build them. “I’ve seen a lot of players come to the Den and freeze, because within five minutes they’re being called names they’ve never heard before and they can’t cope with that pressure,” Dunne said. “But it didn’t faze him – he was a focused lad, he was confident in his ability.” Loan spells at Norwich and Leicester followed, both cut short by injury and a lack of game time.

It was not until April 2014, with Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas gone and Tim Sherwood in charge, that a 20-year-old Kane finally got a run in the Tottenham first team. He scored on his first Premier League start against Sunderland and in the following two games as well. Sherwood says it never felt like a gamble. “Roberto Soldado was in front of him in the team, and nobody wanted Roberto to do well more than me, but every single day in training Harry was outperforming him. He didn’t let me down,” Sherwood said. “Harry wanted to get to the top, and nothing was going to stop him achieving that because of the ability, desire and mentality he possesses.”

From Spurs Legend to Bayern’s Record Breaker

Kane went on to become Tottenham’s all-time top scorer with 280 goals in 435 appearances and three Premier League Golden Boots, though no trophies. He joined Bayern Munich in 2023 to put that gap right and has scored 152 goals in 154 games for the German club, winning the Bundesliga Golden Boot three times along with two German titles and a German Cup. Former Bayern defender Lothar Matthaus rates him among the most complete forwards in the world game right now. “Kane also demonstrates qualities as a passer, dribbler, and tackler. He is simultaneously a goalscorer, playmaker, box-to-box player, and tackler,” Matthaus said.

For England, Kane is already the record goalscorer with 89 goals in 124 appearances before this week’s milestone cap, a tally built on a debut strike scored 79 seconds into his first appearance for the Three Lions. Shilton’s prediction that the cap record will be his alone within weeks looks close to a formality: England’s next international window arrives in November, and short of injury Kane is expected to start. The boy two clubs decided was not worth keeping, and whose first coach thought he had unearthed a promising young goalkeeper, is one cap away from standing alone at the top of his country’s history.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.

More articles by Jarrod →