Spurs' award-winning CF was ahead of Kane, then Poch sold him for £208k

When it comes to the modern icons of Tottenham Hotspur, they don’t come much grander than Harry Kane.

The England captain might not have won any trophies during his time in North London, but he made an enormous impact on the club.

For example, in 435 first-team appearances, the club legend amassed a staggering tally of 280 goals and 61 assists, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 1.27 games.

It’s impossible to imagine Spurs’ modern history without Kane, yet before his breakthrough, there was another promising striker in the academy who was ahead of him, a striker who Mauricio Pochettino eventually sold for a pittance.

Kane’s early Spurs career

As everyone knows, Kane’s football journey started in North London, but on the red side, with Spurs’ bitter rivals Arsenal.

However, the Gunners released the future superstar when he was just 12 years old, with then-academy manager Roy Massey later revealing that the club didn’t believe the youngster had what was needed to make it in the game.

After a few years without a professional club, the teenager joined the Lilywhites and, after spending some time in the youth system, went on several loan moves all over the country.

In between his loan moves, the Walthamstow-born ace still made 13 appearances for the U21s between the 12/13 and 13/14 seasons, scoring nine goals and providing nine assists.

Finally, after going out on numerous loan spells, playing in the academy and making the odd first-team appearance here and there, the Englishman was given his first proper chance to establish himself as the club’s starting number nine in the 14/15 season, under new boss Pochettino.

This was an opportunity he grabbed with both hands.

In 51 appearances, he scored 31 goals and provided five assists, and the rest, as they say, is history.

However, a few years before Kane finally made his mark on the team, there was another up-and-coming striker ahead of him in the pecking order, a striker who thrived in the academy and looked promising, but eventually moved on for next to nothing.

The Spurs striker who was ahead of Kane

So, if we were to travel back to the distant year of 2009, we might be talking about a certain Spurs youngster turning heads in the club’s academy by the name of Jonathan Obika.

It was at the end of the 2008/09 season that the fans awarded the teenager the club’s Breakthrough Award, as even though he was just 18 at the time, he made his debut for the club in November 2008, in a UEFA Cup game against NEC Nijmegen.

The next six years or so would see the youngster spend time on loan with various clubs, including Yeovil Town, Peterborough, Millwall, Swindon Town, Brighton & Hove Albion, Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace.

However, there were also spells in which he returned to play for the Lilywhites U21s, and he looked excellent doing so.

For example, in just 17 appearances in the 12/13 season – when Kane was struggling on loan with Norwich and Leicester City – the Enfield-born poacher racked up a tally of 18 goals and four assists, which comes out to an average of 1.29 goal involvements per game.

Unfortunately, Pochettino did not see a future for the striker, who at one point looked destined to reach the top when he took charge in 2014, and just two years on from his barnstorming performances for the U21s, Obika was sold to Swindon for just £208k.

He might not have reached the heights that people thought he would’ve when he was making his way through Tottenham’s academy, but in the 11 years since his sale, the 34-year-old has carved out an impressive career for himself.

Following his time with Swindon, he played for Oxford United, St Mirren, Morecambe and Motherwell before retiring in July of last year, with a career that might not match up to the likes of Kane but is still something most could only dream of.

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