The top 10 Premier League goalscorers since Harry Kane’s Tottenham debut

Nestor Watach • 12 May 2023

A lot has changed since Harry Kane made his Premier League debut for Tottenham back in August 2012.

Wayne Rooney was not yet England’s all-time all-time top goalscorer – a record he’d hold only for a few years before being surpassed by Kane – while the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Ryan Giggs were still kicking about.

Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini were in charge of Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City respectively, while Liverpool had just appointed Brendan Rodgers and Roberto De Matteo remained in his post at Stamford Bridge after leading Chelsea to Champions League glory – and qualifying at fourth-placed Tottenham’s expense.

David Moyes had been the early favourite to succeed Harry Redknapp as Spurs manager, but the job eventually went to former Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas – who handed a 19-year-old Kane his first Premier League appearance as a late substitute in an opening weekend 2-1 defeat away to Newcastle United.

Kane, who had previously spent time on loan at Leyton Orient and Millwall, made his Spurs debut under Redknapp in a Europa League qualifier against Hearts the previous summer but he had to be patient for opportunities in the English top flight.

The young striker was introduced in the 85th minute for Sandro, but couldn’t force an equaliser against Alan Pardew’s Magpies. That was his only appearance for Tottenham that season; Kane was subsequently shipped out on loan to Norwich and Leicester, for whom he featured in their unforgettable play-off defeat to Watford in 2013.

He eventually started to break through in the latter half of the 2013-14 season under Tim Sherwood, under whom he scored his first Premier League goals, but it wasn’t until the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino in the summer of 2014 that he established himself as an undisputed starter.

Fast forward nine years and now only Alan Shearer sits above Kane in the all-time Premier League goalscoring charts. The 29-year-old has become Tottenham’s all-time top goalscorer as well as England’s and will surely break Shearer’s record if he doesn’t move abroad in the near future.

But which players are the closest to Kane since he made his league debut? We’ve taken a closer look at the Premier League’s top 10 goalscorers since the start of the 2012-13 season.

Kane’s England team-mate Raheem Sterling is the only player to have featured continuously in the English top-flight player since then. The forward just began breaking through at Liverpool last year, which was the same summer that Eden Hazard (left in 2019) and Olivier Giroud (left in 2021) first arrived in England.

Jamie Vardy, briefly Kane’s team-mate at Leicester, was still in the Championship – eventually promoted to the Premier League with the Foxes in 2014 – while the likes of Sadio Mane, Son Heung-min and Salah arrived later.

Closest challenger Sergio Aguero signed for Manchester City in 2011 and scored 23 league goals in his debut title-winning campaign, adding a further 161 since Kane made his Premier League debut.

Here’s the top 10 in full:

10. Eden Hazard – 85

9. Olivier Giroud – 90

8. Son Heung-min – 103

7. Sadio Mane – 111

6. Raheem Sterling – 113

5. Romelu Lukaku – 121

4. Jamie Vardy – 136

3. Mohamed Salah – 139

2. Sergio Aguero – 161

1. Harry Kane – 209

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Tottenham’s Xl from Harry Kane’s debut in 2011?