Liverpool academy manager Alex Inglethorpe has revealed how Harry Kane's quality was pinpointed using a comparison to Reds icon Robbie Fowler.
The Tottenham Hotspur and England star has been one of the most prolific goalscorers in the Premier League and recently broke Wayne Rooney's record to become the Three Lions' all-time leading goalscorer. Inglethorpe has spoken openly about how the Spurs talisman didn't quite pull up trees during his time in the youth ranks in north London - where the 51-year-old spent six years.
During a conversation with former Liverpool goalkeeper, Brad Friedel, he told the former Leyton Orient forward and then-director John McDermott about how the youthful Kane showed shades of Fowler in his play.
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The American shot-stopper spent three years at Anfield until departing for Ewood Park in 2000. He ended his playing career at White Hart Lane where he spent four years, encountering the now-academy chief who has overseen the first-team debuts for the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones.
Speaking on the We Are Liverpool podcast, Inglethorpe revealed: "So at 14 years of age, Harry was nowhere near top of the group and I think anyone at Tottenham would think at 16, good player, 17, I like him.
"At Tottenham, it was Brad Friedel who got us all thinking about Harry because one day he's come in after training, sat down with me and John McDermott, who was director, at the time, he said: 'young lad, Kane, finishes like Fowler. He's got the same finishing technique as Robbie.'
"Obviously Brad had been here and worked with you and we looked at each other and thought 'woah', we knew he was good but there's no better compliment since then there was a different light on him because of that reference Brad give him. I'm not saying that's what got him in the first-team but there was a feeling of 'oh'."
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