Defoe always believed in Spurs star Kane

Tottenham favourites Jermain Defoe and Harry Kane could link up for England this weekend and Defoe claims he always knew the sharpshooter would turn into something special.

Defoe’s best season in a Spurs shirt was 2009-10 – when he notched on 24 occasions – as a 16-year-old Kane plundered 18 goals in 22 Under-18 matches for the club.

The now-34-year-old left White Hart Lane for the MLS in January 2014, before returning to the Premier League with Sunderland a year later, while Kane scored his first top-flight goals for the North Londoners in April 2014.

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The 23-year-old has hit 20, 25 and 29 goals in the last three Premier League campaigns – winning back-to-back golden boots – but his emergence as a superstar has not come as a surprise to Defoe.

“It’s not easy to score goals in the Premier League,” explained the veteran, who could line up alongside Kane for fixtures against Scotland and France. “The league is so strong, home and away, so it’s brilliant to score three 20s on the trot.

“I just think he’s in the perfect team, no team is going to create more chances and dominate games like Spurs.

“If there is one team to be at right now, it’s Spurs and with ‘H’, I said ages ago he was a finisher.

“I said to the guys how good he was and if he got the chance, he would score goals. I’m not surprised with how well he’s done. That team creates chances and give him a chance and he’ll score.

“Hard work has got him to where’s got so far, sheer hard work, just wanting to score goals, that’s someone who just loves to score goals.

“That’s just in you, and you keep practising and then in a game, it comes naturally and that’s why he scores so many goals.”