For Harry Kane, the prospect of becoming Tottenham’s record goalscorer is a tantalising one.
He needs another 51 to draw level with Jimmy Greaves’s mark of 266 and, at his current rate of execution, he should reach that mark late in the 2022-23 campaign or early the following season.
Ankles permitting, of course.
Whether he will get there in 52 outings to match Greavsie’s goals-to-games ratio is another matter altogether.
Even the prolific Kane might struggle with that one.
But the target is there for him to etch his name into the club’s history books — something few would have predicted in the days he was being farmed out on loan to Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester.
(Image: Julian Finney/POOL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
The big question Kane now has to ask himself, though, is whether breaking that record, or at least attempting to break it, is worth more to him than trying to win major honours.
Whether or not a blue-and-white club rosette commemorating the fact he’d toppled Greavsie’s record or finished a close second behind him would stir the emotions in Kane’s dotage in quite the same way that a Premier League, La Liga or Champions League winners’ medal would.
Greavsie’s goals helped Tottenham lift two FA Cups at a time when winning the competition meant fulfilling a childhood dream, and he also got his hands on the European Cup Winners’ Cup, too.
(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Kane’s trophy cabinet, on the other hand, is home only to individual honours and only the most dyed-in-the-wool Spurs fan will fancy that changing when they take on Manchester City in the EFL Cup final.
There’s a chance that could happen, of course.
Just as there’s a chance Jennifer Aniston could find herself browsing Mirror Football later today and getting so bedazzled by the author picture at the top of this piece that she just has to get in touch.
(My DMs are closed, Jen, but where there’s a will there’s a way).
Back in the real world, it doesn’t matter what level of football someone plays at, collective trophies will always mean more than individual accolades.
(Image: Getty)
And while there’s no doubt that ending his career as Spurs’s record goalscorer would be an incredible achievement, not having at least one major honour to back it up would leave a little void.
Kane knows that and he will also recognise that the financial clout of Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, and the fact Liverpool will come again, means Spurs can forget winning the Premier League or Champions League anytime soon.
Erling Haaland’s emergence, too, should serve as a reminder to him that, if he is going to chase trophies elsewhere, then he needs to move sooner rather than later, because young guns are coming through and no club is going to wait for him to pass Greavsie’s record before making their move.
Kane doesn’t haven’t the sort of speed Real Madrid have always liked in a striker, but he’d fit well at Barcelona.
Better still would be a move to United if City do, as expected, land Haaland this summer, because what a delicious plot twist that would serve up not just for Manchester but the league as a whole.
With three years left on his contract, getting Kane out of Spurs won’t be easy, even if he decides to push for a new challenge.
Especially not by a domestic rival.
But if he truly wants to be remembered as a great of the game, and not just for Tottenham, then he needs to be battling Haaland for major honours instead of Greaves for his record.
Sign up to the Mirror Football email here for the latest news and transfer gossip.
