As Harry Kane closes in on some of football’s most prestigious accolades, the man who gave him his big Premier League break fears Tottenham have failed their next generation.
Kane’s success, competing for the Ballon d’Or and becoming England’s most-capped player, reflects well upon Spurs, the club where he came through the youth ranks and scored a club-record 280 goals before leaving for Bayern Munich three years ago.
At least, it does to a point. For Tim Sherwood, the brilliant rise of Kane serves to highlight how English clubs can produce more world-class talent if they are prepared to show more faith.
‘The academy side of that club is unrecognisable now,’ Sherwood, 57, tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘They might as well close it up and batten down the doors.
‘You can’t tell me there’s not been one player through that academy who has not been good enough to play for Tottenham on a regular basis since Harry Kane.
‘Either they have let whoever has been the manager close them off or they have not been banging down the door like we used to do. They have failed them.’
Harry Kane will look to take down Arsenal with Bayern Munich and could be crowned as the Ballon d’Or winner next week
Kane scored his first Premier League start for Tottenham in 2014 against Sunderland
Tim Sherwood, who gave Kane his break, fears Tottenham are failing to give chances to the next generation
Kane’s career might have taken a very different route without Sherwood’s 148 days in charge of Spurs after Andre Villas-Boas was sacked in December 2013. It was Sherwood who thrust him into the team for his first Premier League start against Sunderland aged 20, the first of six successive starts at the end of the season.
Having spent four seasons there as a player, Sherwood joined Harry Redknapp’s Spurs coaching staff in 2008 and later become technical director, working with Les Ferdinand and Chris Ramsey to oversee the academy. When he took over from Villas-Boas, his instinct was to trust his young players.
‘I didn’t do it because I was on an ego trip trying to put in as many academy boys as possible,’ says Sherwood.
‘I judged everyone on a level playing field. I was qualified to make that judgment because I knew those boys and I’d walked that path as a kid who was awful when he first went into the team and was kept in for long enough to become average and then very good. I know how vital it is for someone to trust you and give you an opportunity.’
When Mauricio Pochettino replaced Sherwood, Kane knew what was required to score in the Premier League. But amid seven different managers in seven years since Pochettino, such opportunities have vanished. The only academy graduate to play in the Premier League for Spurs this season is Mikey Moore, now on loan at Cologne in Germany.
‘I know how important it is for the Tottenham manager to get results,’ says Sherwood. ‘They tend not to look at the academy. Or they’re waiting for a Lionel Messi to fall from the tree, but it doesn’t happen like that.
‘They tend to look at the transfer market or try to get a tune from experienced players. They would argue they haven’t got time to wait and I’d argue back because those players who cost £50million, £75m or £100m, they will let you down as well.’
Sherwood cites Florian Wirtz, who cost Liverpool £116million from Bayer Leverkusen in 2025 and is yet to make an impact.
Sherwood and others on Tottenham’s coaching staff worked closely with Kane as he developed during loan spells at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester
When Pochettino replaced Sherwood, Kane knew what was required to score goals in the Premier League and thrive
‘We all know Wirtz has ability,’ he says. ‘He is a wonderful talent. But he has played more than 50 games now for Liverpool. Are you telling me an academy kid would have had 50 games if he was playing as bad as Wirtz? Never.’
Sherwood’s passion is clear. ‘Recruitment has not been good enough,’ he says. ‘Kids have found the pathway blocked by bang-average players who get more opportunity because of their reputation and their prices tags. It’s just not on.’
When Kane’s chance came, he seized it and did not look back.
‘Harry’s mentality was special,’ says Sherwood. ‘I can see his mentality is the same now as when he was 16-18. He doesn’t think he has reached his ceiling. He is still looking to improve. He was never afraid to ask questions if he didn’t understand something and once he understood, he did whatever he could to improve.
‘We had individual programmes to make him better — as we did with all those boys. Now we have too many coaches interested in enhancing their own careers rather than the boys’ careers.
‘It’s geared towards winning. They are applauded by the hierarchy for winning Under 21 leagues. Who cares? No one cares who wins those leagues.
‘I’m a firm believer that if they are not in the first team at 18, you need to find them a pathway. They need to go and play games, but if no one is fighting for those kids they will never make it.
‘All that stuff you hear about, “If they’re good enough they’ll make it in the end”, is the biggest load of b*****ks I’ve heard. There are sliding-doors moments and it’s about getting the opportunity and grasping it.’
Ramsey, Ferdinand and others on the Spurs coaching staff shared this belief and they worked closely with Kane as he developed, supporting him through loans at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester.
Kane scored a club-record 280 goals for Tottenham before leaving for Bayern Munich three years ago
Sherwood questioned Tottenham’s sales of Troy Parrott and Will Lankshear, who he believes should have been given the same opportunity as Kane to establish themselves at Tottenham
‘People would say to me, “I know you like Harry but he’s at Orient and it’s not exactly the Premier League”,’ Sherwood recalls. ‘I’d say, “Well, send Luka Modric there and let’s see how he gets on”. It’s f***ing hard at that level. It’s almost a different sport.
‘Just because he didn’t score bundles of goals everywhere he went doesn’t mean he failed. It was just about progression, and it was far better for his development than Mickey Mouse U21s football where no one cares who wins or loses.
‘We weren’t normal in the way we fought for those kids. I have enormous pride in the work put in by me, Chris and Les and everyone else who helped develop Harry Kane.’
Spurs have struggled for goals since Kane and in the summer they sold 21-year-old Will Lankshear to Middlesbrough, where he has scored 11 in 14 games.
‘There are clear parallels,’ says Sherwood. ‘I knew Harry and the other boys like they were my own. I knew how their hearts would beat and how to work them. I don’t know Will Lankshear but if I’d worked with him, I would know him and know if I felt he had the drive and determination and ability to play for Tottenham. I would not have let them sell him for £10m.
‘Put an arm around him and give him a chance. Tell him, “Don’t worry what the crowd are thinking, you’ve got the opportunity and if you do well they’re going to love you”.
‘Big him up. Tell him he can be the next Harry Kane. There’s no reason he can’t be. What are you selling Will Lankshear for when you’ve got strikers who can’t score a goal? Troy Parrott is another I would not have let go.’
Sherwood hailed Kane’s mentality and believes the forward would genuinely rather win the Champions League with Bayern Munich than win the Ballon d’Or for himself
Parrott made two brief Premier League appearances for Spurs before he was sold aged 22 to AZ Alkmaar, where 51 goals in 97 games earned him a £17million move this year to Real Betis.
Kane, meanwhile, forges on towards his dreams. ‘If he can win the Champions League or the Ballon d’Or I know what he will say,’ says Sherwood. ‘And it won’t be a stock answer, it will be a genuine answer. The genuine answer is he would rather win the Champions League with Bayern Munich than win the Ballon d’Or for himself.
‘That’s the mentality we’re talking about. That’s why he’s the best. That’s why I’ll have a lot of respect for the Ballon d’Or if he wins and I won’t if he doesn’t.
‘Kane is a total team man. That’s why he’s a great example to any kid coming through but those kids will not get the same opportunities unless there are people inside these academies fighting for them.’