"It crushed me" – Spaniard on player unintentionally making Tottenham 'unbearable'

Soldado reflects on Kane's rise at Spurs, saying the striker's emergence and goal-scoring made his own situation at the club difficult.

Roberto Soldado has opened up about his time at Tottenham, revealing that Harry Kane's breakthrough made his spell at the club increasingly difficult. Soldado spent two years at Spurs between 2013 and 2015 after joining from Valencia for around €30m, but struggled to replicate his Spanish form, finishing with 16 goals and 11 assists from 76 matches.

The Spaniard explained that Kane's rapid rise through the ranks, initially on loan at Leicester before returning to Tottenham in summer 2013, gradually pushed him out of the picture. "He'd come up to train with us, and in training you'd see him finish and you'd say, 'Damn, this kid'," Soldado recalled. "The kid would come on, get minutes, and score goals, and score goals, and score goals. It crushed me, it crushed me."

Soldado left Tottenham for Villarreal in 2015 as Kane's dominance became overwhelming. He praised Kane's subsequent achievements, including his 280 goals for Spurs, his move to Bayern Munich in 2023, and his recent Ballon d'Or win. "Those of you who knew he was something special weren't wrong, because look, even now, and it's been quite a while, he's still a world-class striker," Soldado said.