Kane determined to prove people wrong and deliver Champions League goals

It was interesting that when Harry Kane launched his charitable foundation on Monday, with the aim to transform the conversation around mental health, he brought up his release by Arsenal as an eight-year-old.

The Tottenham and England striker has not hidden the detail; it is a part of his story and he has always been an open person, happy to engage. But at the same time, it has long had the trappings of a guilty secret – you know, Spurs’ homegrown hero and the other mob in north London.

Kane wanted to share the episode in a cartoon that went out on his social media channels because he felt it was important to address the subject of rejection for his younger fans (and the older ones, too); to show that strength can come in adversity if there is the willingness to “go again and work even harder”.

The 29-year-old read a bedtime story for the nation’s children that evening on CBeebies and, in it, he admitted to feeling vulnerable and fearful at times, and how it was OK.

This was Kane opening up to own the narrative in all the right ways and for all the right reasons. It also highlighted the single truth behind everything he has achieved. To paraphrase him from his press conference before the pivotal Champions League tie at home against Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday night, his identity is to fight and to prove people wrong.

Kane has a lot going on, a great weight on his shoulders – mainly because of the World Cup, which kicks off in Qatar on 20 November. Every time the England captain feels a challenge and goes down, it is as if the nation holds its breath. An injury to Gareth Southgate’s talisman is unthinkable. Kane is committed, as well, to wearing the OneLove armband at the finals as part of an anti-discrimination