Harry Kane has revealed how his career at boyhood club Tottenham nearly never happened following a failed six-week trial as an 11-year-old.
On Sunday, in a live Q&A interview with Sportsmail's Jamie Redknapp on Instagram, Kane was asked a series of questions about his time in football to date and where it all started for him.
The 26-year-old — now one of the club's most prolific strikers in history — revealed how Tottenham initially turned him away as a youngster before proving to them that he had what it takes.
'I went to Arsenal academy when I was six or seven. That was my first taste,' Kane told Redknapp.
'I was there for two years, and then they (Arsenal) released me. I went back playing for Ridgeway Rovers, my Sunday league club, and Tottenham picked me up when I was 11.
'It was a six-week trial and they said that they weren't going to sign me. I went to Watford on a trial, and we played Tottenham in a game.
'I scored a hat-trick, and that night the head of academy phoned my dad and said they wanted to sign me.
'It was a difficult decision, but I think I made the right choice in the end. I wasn't the best player in that team, I wasn't physically strong. At 15 I started to really develop, then at 16, 17 years of age I started to train with the first team and went from there.'
It is known that Kane initially struggled in his earlier years at Tottenham.
The forward made the jump up to Spurs' senior squad in 2009 before he was sent out on loan four times – a rather unsuccessful spell during his career.
Time spent away on loan at Leicester, Norwich, Leyton Orient and Millwall provided him with that steely determination that has seen him go on to break goalscoring records for Tottenham.
The England skipper is currently recovering from a hamstring issue while in lockdown following government instructions to stay indoors during the coronavirus outbreak.