Monday 9 February 2015 15:19, UK
Sky Sports pundits Tony Cascarino and Nigel Winterburn believe Tottenham's Harry Kane is ready to step up for England.
The striker was the toast of White Hart Lane on Saturday after Spurs came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 with the 21-year-old scoring both goals.
How good has he (Kane) been this season? I can’t remember being this excited about a player for years.
The late winner took his tally for the season to 22 and led to calls for his inclusion in England's team to face Lithuania in March.
Speaking to the Morning View on Sky Sports News HQ, Cascarino said: “How good has he been this season? I can’t remember being this excited about a player for years.”
And former Arsenal defender Winterburn believes Kane has matured during this campaign, having had loan spells with Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester.
He (Kane) is a player that everyone is now pushing for to see into the England squad, but not only that, to see him start as well.
“If you look at the earlier part of his career when he was going out on loan, I think physically he looks a lot stronger now," he said.
“Obviously, he’s coming in and playing with very high quality players, but for me, what I like about him is his enthusiasm for the game.
“He’s not afraid to pick the ball up deep and run at players or go in behind the back four to disrupt them. He also gets away shots from almost impossible angles at times.
“He’s just in great form. We all talk about when strikers are scoring goals, everything seems to come off for them, and he’s a player that everyone is now pushing for to see into the England squad, but not only that, to see him start as well.”
Cascarino is convinced Kane’s maturity has also been reflected in the way his recent contract negotiations were conducted.
Tottenham announced last week that he had signed a five-and-a-half year deal which will keep him at the club until the summer of 2020.
"Sometimes we forget lads’ mentalities. He signed a new deal last week and there was no hullaballoo, it was just done,” Cascarino said.
“He wanted to stay at Tottenham. That’s shown me already the intelligence of him because he’s shown a lot of maturity in that.”
