Mauricio Pochettino hails him as world class and Harry Kane is inclined to agree but when these two were first thrust together, Tottenham were in hot pursuit of Romelu Lukaku.
It was summer 2014 and Chelsea were taking offers for Lukaku and it was Everton, having had the Belgian on loan for a season, who won the race.
No-one had predicted Kane’s rapid rise to prominence, although he had made a few appearances under Tim Sherwood.
It was November before Pochettino started him in the Premier League, in a home game against Stoke, who were the visitors at White Hart Lane last Sunday when Kane’s hat-trick took him past 20 goals for the third successive season.