Mauricio Pochettino: Harry Kane deserves PFA award

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino believes Harry Kane's "massive impact" on English football makes him more worthy of the PFA Player of the Year award than Eden Hazard.

This has been a remarkable season for the 21-year-old, who has gone from third-choice striker at Tottenham to net 29 goals in all competitions, represent his country and captain his boyhood club.

The nation has been swept up in Kane's rise, which has clearly impressed fellow professionals given he has been shortlisted for both the player and young player of the year prizes.

Harry Kane scored his first England goal 79 seconds into his debut

Image credit: PA Photos

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The Spurs striker is overriding favourite with bookmakers to beat Hazard to the young player award, although the Chelsea man is as short as 1/7 to win the main accolade.

"I think that Hazard is a very good player, he's fantastic, a great player," Pochettino said of the PFA Player of the Year shortlist. "But the impact that Harry has had on English football is massive.

"Maybe the impact is bigger than Hazard and his performances. Everyone knew that Hazard is a brilliant player.

"But I think not too many people expected that Harry Kane would show the performances that he has this season. This is the difference, I believe."

Kane's position would be further strengthened if he can net at Newcastle on Sunday, making him the first Spurs player to net 30 goals in a single season since Gary Lineker.

"It would be a big thing for the club and for Harry Kane," Pochettino said.

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"It's very important for the team. If he arrives at 30 goals for the season, then it's an historic thing.

"I've said that he needs help. I need help. We all need help. But it's always the case that a striker needs the ball to arrive so that he can shoot and score.

"He needs the chance to be created, for people to run and to give him the ball."

It is not only current team-mates that need to help Kane, though, and Spurs are likely to dip into the transfer market this summer to help share the goalscoring burden.

Roberto Soldado and Emmanuel Adebayor may well exit after underwhelming campaigns, with Pochettino accepting a striker is up there with his summer plans.

Emmanuel Adebayor has spent most of the season on the bench

Image credit: PA Sport

"Maybe it's one of our ideas, our priority," he said. "Maybe, yes.

"After analysing all season, after the season finishes we need to analyse again.

"We have all the information. We record all the training sessions and we need to sit, analyse and take a decision.

"You never know (if Kane will still be our main striker) but when you show the stats from Harry Kane he is the best striker today in the Premier League."

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