Mauricio Pochettino positioned his hands to make the point. Tottenham’s manager was about to compare his star man with old ally Gabriel Batistuta and recognised the weight his words would carry.
‘Yes, yes, yes, yes — Batistuta was a killer,’ said Pochettino. ‘Very strong mentality; very strong shot, great professional. You can compare. For me, OK, I put Batistuta there . . .’ he said, raising one hand above the other, ‘. . . and Harry there,’ with his other hand a little lower.
‘But Harry can be better. He is a killer, Harry Kane. Look at the goals he scored the last years! Mental level? Yes. Absolutely (they are the same). Maybe they have different characteristics but I think he is in that level, with Batistuta.’
To ensure the message got through, Pochettino repeated himself. ‘I would put Harry Kane in with Batistuta. All that is happening to him he deserves. He is the protagonist of his life, and he deserves all the prize.’
The first Premier League fixture in September saw Kane burst into life and his two goals — one curled in from near the right touchline, he admitted, was ‘lucky’ — were deserved. Everton’s resistance was pitifully meek and Kane gleefully tore them asunder.
‘He is a top player, there’s no denying that,’ said Everton defender Michael Keane, who also had to cope with Dele Alli. ‘They get in awkward positions where you don’t know whether to stay or go. When they scored the first, we collapsed.’
Keane’s admiration was obvious but Pochettino wanted to go much further and paint a picture of just how good Kane can become. The reference to Batistuta, with whom he played at Newell’s Old Boys and then Argentina, was not a frothy platitude casually tossed away.
In the 1990s, Batistuta’s place at the world’s top table was indisputable. Strong and menacing with a right foot that boomed like a cannon, his ‘Batigol’ nickname was fitting. He scored 296 times, the majority coming in Serie A for Fiorentina and Roma.
Kane’s double in this drubbing of a horribly anaemic and slovenly Everton team took him to 101 goals for Tottenham, the century notched in just his 169th appearance. To give that context, it took Wayne Rooney 242 matches to reach three figures for Manchester United.
‘Hopefully I can get another hundred even quicker,’ Kane said. ‘Yes, all the individual records are good but you want to try and win club trophies. That is what it is all about.’
Silverware has to be the objective for this team. Tottenham have barely figured in the early-season chatter, but the ruthless manner in which they exposed Everton’s shortcomings showed why Pochettino has masterminded title challenges in consecutive years.
All over the field there was quality. The back three of Jan Vertonghen, Davinson Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld comfortably contained Everton’s attack and ensured the only significant work Hugo Lloris had to do was catch Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s 64th-minute header.
Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies ran amok down the flanks, while the star of the show was Christian Eriksen, whose effortless elegant distribution enabled Tottenham to constantly expose Everton; his goal, just before half-time, ended the contest.
Eriksen is in a similar position to Kane. He produces marvellous numbers but, for some reason, he doesn’t get spoken about in the same enthusiastic way by outsiders as, for instance, Kevin De Bruyne, Philippe Coutinho or Mesut Ozil. ‘He is fantastic,’ Kane said. ‘He knows when to pass at the right time, his delivery and passing is always spot on. As a striker, it’s a dream to play with someone like that. He’ll keep working hard and see where it takes him.’
The first place it will take him and Tottenham is Wembley on Wednesday. Borussia Dortmund will, absolutely, provide more of a test than Everton, but nothing insurmountable.
The first Champions League test is the kind of occasion, you remember, that would have brought out the best in Batistuta. Kane hopes it will do the same for him.
‘If you want to be one of the top teams in Europe, you have to see where you are,’ said Kane. ‘We have got to prove that we are at that level. If we get through this group, it would be a big statement for the club. That has to be the aim.’
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