Tottenham star Harry Kane once offered to play as a goalkeeper for Arsenal in order to keep his spot in the Hale End academy. That's according to former assistant academy manager Roy Massey, who claimed the striker wanted to make the switch to ensure he would stay with the Gunners.
It's a history-changing moment that Kane would eventually leave Arsenal to join London rivals Tottenham all those years later. Few quite saw how things would pan out for the striker though as in the past few months he has broken both the England men's goal-scoring record, surpassing Wayne Rooney, and became Spurs' all-time top scorer, surpassing the late Sir Jimmy Greaves.
“It’s been an amazing journey. I’ve been at Spurs since I was 11 years old, it’s 18 years of my life, a lot of hard work and dedication,” Kane said earlier this year when scoring his record-breaking 267th goal for the Lilywhites. "I’m extremely proud to represent this club and score 267 goals, and 200 Premier League goals, for them. It’s something I’ll never take for granted. I’ve just got to keep it going, score as many as I can and see what happens from there.”
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However, things could've turned out differently if he had taken a different route that included going through the Arsenal academy. Massey, the former assistant academy manager at the club, told the Mirror: "When I see Harry now I can’t help but to think back to when he was a starry-eyed 12-year-old, sat with his mum and dad in my office as I told him he wasn’t quite up to the standard we were looking for.
"That was the hardest part of the job, telling lads that Arsenal were letting them go. Next thing, Harry’s dad came back in and told me he now wants to be a goalkeeper - and I thought the least I could do was to send him to work with our ‘keeper coach Alex Welch.
"Alex was one of the best in the business and after just a few sessions he told me ‘Roy, the lad is never going to make the grade in goal’ so this time Harry had to move on. I know how much it hurt him. Some lads are lost to the game forever because they can’t get over the disappointment.
“But Harry took my words as a challenge. He went back to playing for his Sunday League team for the next three years and then signed for Spurs. I’m an Arsenal man through and through. But Harry Kane’s perseverance is a credit to him and his family.”
With so much already beyond Kane at this stage of his career, there's plenty to celebrate, however there's also plenty unknown about what his future may hold. With a dwindling contract, it remains to be seen whether he stays with Tottenham or moves elsewhere in a key year for the striker.
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