With more plot twists than an EastEnders Christmas special, 2014 yielded yet another year of crushing blows and false hope for the England national team. Despite World Cup heartbreak becoming an accepted inevitability these days, crashing and burning after just 180 minutes rendered 2010’s humiliation something of a nostalgia trip.

However, for the first time since the heady days of Shearer, Sherringham, Fowler and Wright, England finally possess exciting array of forward options once more. Despite Wayne Rooney’s talismanic displays at club level, Danny Welbeck’s exceptional international record and the imminent return of Daniel Sturridge, it’s the fantastic form of a fearsome fourpiece which has returned hope to the hearts of millions. While the terrific trio of Saido Berahino, Danny Ings and Charlie Austin have netted their way into national recognition, Tottenham Hotspur’s very own Harry Kane appears every inch England’s next line-leading Lion.

An Unexpected Journey

Hands up, who saw this coming? Nope? No one? The meteoric rise of the Chingford-born battler has been nothing short of sensational. From nomadic loanee to undisputed star in little over 6 months. Aided by permanent profligacy of Roberto Soldado and Emmanuel Adebayor, Kane has emphatically banished any lingering doubts over his precocious talent, becoming an essential component of Mauricio Pochettino’s new-look Tottenham Hotspur. Heck, even Derren Brown would have been hard pushed to predict such an extraordinary escalation. Boasting a (needless to say) career high 18 goals already, an international call-up appears an inevitability for English football’s brightest spark. A new year; a new hope.

Cast your minds back twelve months. While Tim Sherwood began to settle in to the notoriously uncomfortable Spurs hot seat, Harry Kane remained a hopeful academy graduate, desperately eager for a crack at the first team. How times have changed. Trigger happy chairman Daniel Levy may have terminated Sherwood’s short reign, but Spurs’ young prince had finally secured a seat at the royal table. First team football fortified. Reputation, duly, enhanced. Despite featuring only 19 times throughout the course of 2013-14, it proved a season of firsts for Kane. A first campaign uninterrupted by lower league loans and, crucially, a maiden Premier League strike. It was worth the wait. Spurs’ 5-1 slamming of Sunderland in April remains reminiscent for the dynamic display of playmaking extraordinaire Christian Eriksen. The record books, however, will remember it for one moment. Harry Kane’s long-awaited graduation into the Tottenham Hotspur first team. Finishing 2013/14 with three league goals, last season provided a mere sample, a taster, if you will, of the magnificence to come.

Tottenham Talisman

Through Pochettino’s White Hart Lane renaissance, a few forgotten souls have emerged reborn. Talk about a transformation. While Nacer Chadli and Erik Lamela vigorously banish the nightmares of Andre Villas-Boas’ suicidal summer splurge, Tottenham’s oft overlooked academy alumni have seized the chance offered by Pochettino’s famed preference for home-grown talent. See James Ward-Prowse, Sam Gallagher etc. As Ryan Mason and Nabil Bentaleb cement their positions as Spurs’ premier midfield partnership, Harry Kane has evolved from useful squad member into vital talisman after only five months of the new regime. Praise be Pochettino.

Initially sheltered from the dog eat dog Premier League world, the Europa League, habitually vilified by overstretched managers, offered Kane a crucial opportunity to stake his claim. That he did. Emphatically so. Starring, and scoring, in Spurs’ comfortable cruise against AEL Limassol in the qualifying rounds, he confidently demonstrated all the attributes of a young man ready to take the plunge into regular first team football. With seven strikes in six group games, including a clinical hat-trick against Asteris Tripoli (the most Europa League of Europa League teams), the next step was a natural progression, though seized with trademark enthusiasm. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Kane’s tremendous tally of eight goals from eleven league starts tells a mere fraction of the story. The blurb. A SparkNotes summary. The real journey must be uncovered within, beyond the figures, beyond the stats. Pochettino’s initial reluctance to throw him in at the deep end is a distant memory. These days, Kane is the first name on his gaffer’s team sheet, the crucial cog in an increasingly well-oiled machine. In the twelve games since he netted his first league goal of the campaign (a last-minute free-kick away to Aston Villa), Spurs’ have won 6 out of their 11, a stark contrast to their inconsistent start. Kane, in typically talismanic style, has netted in all but two of these wins. Now that, truly, tells its own story.

Kane 5-3 Chelsea

Thumping headers at Swansea and peerless poaching at Leicester is impressive enough, but a sensational solo display against the league leaders is another proposition entirely. The undisputed star in Spurs’ sensational 5-3 success over London rivals Chelsea, Kane’s underlined his truly limitless potential. Hardly Paul Konchesky and Liam Moore. This was Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea. A team of Terry, Ivanovic, Matic and Cahil. A striker’s nightmare. Two clinical finishes, an ingenious assist, a spot-kick won and an ultimately magnificent display highlighted Kane’s wide-ranging repertoire.

Completely bamboozling the league’s most watertight defence, his marvellous movement and work rate dragged Chelsea’s experienced backline out of their comfort zones, dropping short to link with Spurs’ multitude of dextrous playmakers while straining the channels and cutting inside. Thus, Kane’s brilliant brace was born. Displaying trademark composure and accuracy, he outmuscled the imperious Nemanja Matic to curl home his second, 20 minutes after lashing home a brilliant first. Thibaut Courtois, widely regarded as the worlds’ finest young shot-stopper, was reduced to spectator status. Even more remarkably, Kane’s two strikes remained his only efforts on goal throughout the 90 minutes. A 100% shot accuracy. Against the league leaders. The Premier League’s meanest backline. He’s 21 years-old. Wow.

It’s rare for a player with so little top-flight experience to possess such an aura of complete composure. Remember, he’s only featured in 27 Premier League games so far. By his age, Wayne Rooney had already played 100 times in England’s topsy-turvy top flight. This is testament to Kane’s insatiable work rate and determination. Enduring loan after loan, unremarkable stints at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Leicester and Norwich did little to highlight his precious talent. However, his boundless energy and level headed approach earned him success where countless prodigious talents have fallen by the wayside, forgotten and rejected. Pochettino offered an opportunity. Game after game, Kane repays his faith with interest.

Possessing a unique skill set, Kane has no obvious weakness. Blessed with natural pace and upper body strength, he possesses the physique to compete against the League’s most hard-nosed centre halves. His selfless approach and tireless work rate makes him an essential team-player, tracking tenaciously from the front and delivering inch perfect passes to better placed team mates. Meanwhile, his superb stamina levels and intelligent movement make him the perfect outlet, collecting the ball in the channels or dropping off to link play, epitomised by his increasing understanding with Soldado and Eriksen. Despite this, its Kane’s dead-eyed finishing that marks him out as a sensationally special talent. Lethal in the air or on the deck, there’s no chance too ambitious, no goalkeeper too talented to keep Kane off the scoresheet in present form. He has netted an extensive variety of goals since exploding onto the scene in September. From bullet headers to power-packed set pieces, Kane is less a one-trick pony, more a pedigree racehorse.

Hodgson’s Hope

With Roy Hodgson presiding over a changing of the guards at national level, Harry Kane is set to become the latest in a long line of effervescent youngsters to earn international honours. Rickie Lambert’s lifeless Liverpool career opens up a crucial fourth spot in England’s striking selection. While Andy Carrol, Berahino, Austin and Ings represent rather left-field choices, the prolific Kane could nail down a consistent spot in Hodgson’s increasingly youthful squad. With shades of Shearer and Sherringham, the 21 year-old sensation certainly has big boots to fill. Not that anything seems to unsettle Tottenham’s home grown hero. Oh, and there’s the small matter of 13 goals in 12 appearences for England’s Under-21s. Just in case you needed any more proof of Kane’s undoubted brilliance.

2014 is gone, forgotten, a sidenote of recent history. However, amidst all the FIFA corruption, World Cup heartbreak and, well, anything Mario Balotelli says or, indeed, does, the year gave us with arguably the finest forward talent since a certain Wayne Rooney. Now, we can’t begin to pin all our hopes on a 21 year-old yet to make his international bow (though that will inevitably occur, remember Barkley Mania?) but one thing is for sure; Harry Kane is not your archetypal promising forward. Far from it. Big performances in big games characterise truly great players. Kane, as proved against Chelsea on New Year’s Day, has all the attributes to become a striker of the highest order. A comprehensive skill set, mature attitude and tireless determination earned him talismanic status at Tottenham. Less a cult hero, more undisputed star man, through whom everything bright seems to shine. 2015 should, nay, will prove another stepping stone on Harry Kane’s journey to international prominence.

Written by Danny T Owen, 20

Twitter: @danny8195