Why Harry Kane is already an England and Tottenham all-time great

One look at Harry Kane as he skipped down the steps inside the bowels of the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium fresh from securing the title as England's all-time leading goalscorer confirmed what the accolade meant to him.

Here was the 29-year-old doing his best impersonation of a child thundering down the stairs on Christmas Day, even going so far as to provide a boyish 'woohoo' for the FA's social media team, capturing the moment which had no doubt been rehearsed and contrived for all the relevant channels, but which nevertheless conveyed that players don't always need a trophy to gain satisfaction from their efforts – no matter what the perpetual narrative might be surrounding Kane.

And yet there are still some that use it as a stick to beat him with. In an era when the game is full of mercenaries who move to a handful of state-funded clubs to earn eye-watering salaries and canter season-after-season to almost every pot and gong, there has surely been something laudable in Kane's loyalty to Tottenham and his efforts to win a trophy with his boyhood club. His efforts to instigate a move in the summer to Manchester City in the summer of 2021 may have briefly sullied his standing among Spurs fans but they accept that Kane refused to grumble, knuckled down and took his medicine – no matter if he is unlikely to remain at the club for much longer.

Kane has continued to develop in that time. His game has never been about pace and so you would imagine that, despite being a few months shy of 30, he will be capable of playing on towards the end of the decade. It is the unique aspects of his game that place him in exalted company. He has played as No.9 and a No.10 excelling in both roles in a manner that few of the greats have managed.

Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane and Diego Maradona, were exquisite 10s but never in a million years a 9. True 9s such as Marco van Basten, Robert Lewandowski and Alan Shearer were great at leading the line but could not go deep and bring others into play which is what makes Kane so unique.

No.9 and No.10 are two of the hardest positions on the pitch and have considerably different skill sets yet Kane is adept at performing in both positions seamlessly even if his approach to playing as a No.10 – by executing long sweeping passes that bisect a defence – is not in keeping with the short, intricate passing style normally associated with the position.

And yet, the brickbats keep coming. The argument that you must win a trophy to be considered a great player is a fallacious one, of course. Socrates, the legendary Brazil midfielder is included in FIFA's 100 greatest ever players – named by Pele – and is an indubitable great, yet he has not one medal to his name. Kane joining a heavyweight club and adding a bagful of easily won trophies wouldn't suddenly make him a better player.

Meanwhile, the flip side of the debate is that some total nonentities have won multiple trophies who could never get near the level of Kane's play nor in the same postcode as any acceptable definition of greatness. At Manchester United, alone, the club Kane has been linked to in recent weeks there are those such as Gary Neville and his brother, Phil, who have all won far more trophies than Kane – but they will never be known as greats.

Gary remained at United because he was a decent, hard-working pro and a United fan – and the club just happened to be going through its most successful era. It's the same reason Kane signed a six-year-contract at Spurs in 2018, because he was happy at the club he supported, a club that would reach that season's Champions League final and which appeared to be on the brink of winning things.

Instead, as Spurs have returned to type, Kane has had to content himself with personal accolades: two top-10 finishes in the Ballon d'Or, a World Cup golden boot, the Premier League golden boot – and now all-time leading scorer for club and country.

Let's take the latter of those first. At one point during the 90s as Gary Lineker chased down Bobby Charlton's then record of 49 goals it seemed an insurmountable target not least when Lineker seemed to prove that perception by falling short of the tally when he missed a penalty against Brazil at Wembley in 1992 and then failed to find the net in his farewell tournament, England's miserable showing at Euro 92.

It took 47 years for Wayne Rooney to finally eclipse the Manchester United legend's total for club and country and when he did so Charlton anointed him a great – yet here is Kane having achieved the feat in 39 fewer games than Rooney. Note the aforementioned names he has surpassed: Charlton, Lineker, Rooney and here's another handful – Alan Shearer, Tom Finney, Nat Lofthouse and Jimmy Greaves – all recognised as greats of the English game and all now choking on Kane's exhaust smoke.

Greaves, widely regarded as the Lionel Messi of his day (his 366 goals in 528 top-flight matches for four clubs is a record bettered elsewhere only by Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) has now been overtaken by Kane twice, the second time came a matter of weeks ago when he became Spurs' all-time leading goalscorer.

The detractors say Kane will never be remembered as an all-time great if he does not win a trophy. On the contrary, Kane is already an all-time great. The list of players whom he sits above on the England and Tottenham scoring charts confirms it. A League Cup or FA Cup medal doesn't alter that fact.