It's all coming together for Harry Kane as England forward threatens to take world by storm

As England stand on the brink of World Cup qualification ahead of their match against Slovenia, Kane could well go to Russia as the globe’s best No 9 - not just the Premier League’s

Harry Kane in training earlier this week with his England teammates (Getty)

When Harry Kane first came through at Tottenham Hotspur, his coach Clive Allen had a rather simple message for him that so cleverly stripped down a lot of the difficulties of the game for strikers, and allowed the youngster to first begin honing his abundant talent.

Allen, himself a Spurs legend who hit 49 goals in all competitions across the 1986-87 campaign, would tell Kane the following: “There’s only one goal, and it doesn’t move.” The idea was that strikers should develop an almost telepathic awareness for where the posts were, allowing them to fire off precise shots for the corners that goalkeepers just wouldn’t stand a chance.

The direct effects of this can be seen in the directness of Kane’s game now, how he now seems to find it so elementary to beat so many keepers. While you can teach any player to keep that message in mind, though, not every forward will have the talent to truly maximise it. Kane has, and his international teammate Joe Hart is one of many to have faced it - and been beaten by it.

“You know you will get a hard shot with Harry,” the West Ham United goalkeeper explains. “If you give him half an inch, he will get a strike on goal and make you work. There is no real secret to him, and that is the brilliance of Harry.”

The high quality of Kane’s finishing and his developed instinct for goal effectively take the keeper out of the equation, to the point that Hart admits they just have to rely on luck or the “brilliance” of their own abilities to stop him in such situations.

“You have got to say percentages and rely on some brilliance from yourself if you are going to save something in the corner. If he ends up going in the corner because of the majority of the keepers he faces are in good positions, that is what he knows.”

It’s not all he knows, though. There are other reasons as to why he scores so much, why it’s got to the point where Pep Guardiola is referring to Spurs as “the Harry Keane team”, why he could genuinely be on the brink of a ludicrously prolific Leo Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo season.

Kane is in the form of his life for Tottenham (Getty Images)

Many strikers like Ian Wright cite the intelligence of his movement. Kane is not so much two steps ahead of defenders, but just better able to envisage where the ball will go, allowing him to suddenly appear out of an unexpected angle in the box to give himself maximum space and maximum opportunity to finish.

Added to that is also what has been called a necessary "striker's delusion". All the best had it, with Alan Shearer said to have been particularly 'guilty', and Kane has admitted he has it himself: it is that complete refusal to let any miss affect them. They will still keep going full-gun for the next chance, fully believing that they will score it, without a shred of hesitation or doubt affecting how they approach it.

All of that is why he has managed Shearer’s ratios of a goal a game this year, and 11 in nine so far this season, and why it is not outlandish to think he could manage the outrageous figures of Ronaldo and Messi. As England similarly stand on the brink of World Cup qualification ahead of their match against Slovenia, he could well go to Russia as the globe’s best No 9 - not just the Premier League’s.

Kane could head to the World Cup as Europe's most prolific striker (Getty Images)

His record and relentless scoring match up with anyone, even beyond England.

He is currently matching Robert Lewandowski’s rates for the Bundesliga and had even looked a bit more ruthless and sharper of late than the Premier League’s previous finest finisher, Sergio Aguero.

At just 24, Kane is also half a decade younger than both and coming to that point of every career when so many key factors combine to produce a player’s prime form, when they are old enough and have experienced enough to know how to more intelligently use their talent.

Kane is just getting even more intimidating in that regard. No defence or keeper would fancy themselves when he’s bearing down on goal.

“He is hot, isn’t he?” Hart says. “Right now, Harry is hot… He is scoring just as many goals as the people we have related to as world-class and he has been doing it for many seasons.”

He may this season score even more. So much is coming together. The goal may not move, but Kane is more than ready to move onto another level.