Tottenham’s Kane in awe of Maradona

Kane — whose brace in the 4-1 dismantling of Liverpool on Sunday took his tally to 45 goals in 40 games for Spurs and England this year — admitted he hadn’t understood much of what 56-year-old Maradona said when he met him prior to Sunday’s match.

Maradona’s command of English isn’t thought to be terrific — indeed he remains a bogey man to some in England for his infamous ‘Hand of God goal’ in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final — and whilst there has been speculation Kane could decamp to one of Spain’s big clubs next season his knowledge of Spanish is debatable.

“He’s a fantastic guy (Maradona). I got to meet him before the game — great energy, great guy,” said Kane.

“He is one of the best number 10s ever so it was great for him to be here.

“He didn’t speak much English, just speaking in Spanish so I didn’t really understand what he was saying but he was very energetic, he said some nice compliments, not just to me but to the team and to the manager (fellow Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino).

“It was great to be in the company of someone like that. What a player he was and I can only learn from someone like him.”

Kane, who underwent his usual August drought before sparking spectacularly into goal scoring mode, said he wanted to supplant the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best player in the world.

“At some stage I want to be the best player in the world and to do that you have to be up there with these players,” said Kane.

“They set the standards, Ronaldo and Messi, so for the rest of us it’s about trying to catch them and get up there,” added the 24-year-old.