“I work very hard”: Harry Kane explains why scoring goals is so important to him

Harry Kane says he works hard to be among the world’s leading goal scorers, admitting he is passionate about winning the Golden Boot.

The comments come after his much discussed goal appeal from last weekend.

Christian Eriksen was originally credited as the scorer of Tottenham’s winner against Stoke City – his second goal of the game.

But Kane was adamant the ball brushed his shoulder on the way in.

After the game, Spurs appealed to have the goal re-awarded to Kane, which led to plenty of furore on social media.

Kane was eventually officially awarded the goal, meaning he has now scored 25 times in the Premier League this season – just four behind leading scorer Mohamed Salah.

If he overtakes Salah by the end of the campaign, Kane will win the Golden Boot for a third successive year.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the 24-year-old explained why scoring goals is so important to him.

“Your job as a striker is to score goals and I feel if I don’t that I have let the team down,” Kane said. “I know I do other stuff like hold the ball up, try and bring other people into play and work hard, but my job is to score goals.

“I feel very passionate about it, I work very hard at the craft, it’s competition, when you are fighting for the Golden Boot it’s good competition and I want to win at everything I do, whether it’s a match, the Golden Boot, or training.

“I always want to win and I have always had that. That passion and excitement of being the best and the highest scorer that season is what I want to achieve.”

Asked if he can catch Salah, Kane replied: “We will see. He has done great, he has had an amazing season and has gone ahead, so we will see.”

Kane has received some criticism for his desperation to claim the goal against Stoke. But there is an argument to be made that his passion for goals is what makes him so successful.

That passion is likely to serve Tottenham and England well now and in the future.