According to reports from The Independent, Arsene Wenger was left ‘a bit angry’ after discovering Arsenal’s academy had released Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane as a nine-year old.
The 22 year-old’s meteoric rise last season saw him emerge from the peripheries of the Lilywhites’ first team squad to become the Premier League’s top scoring Englishman, netting 21 times in 34 appearances.
The PFA Young Player of the Year has since earned comparisons to Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham and Thomas Muller, to name a few, whilst cementing himself as a mainstay in Roy Hodgson’s plans for the England national team.
But Kane once represented Tottenham Hotspur’s local rivals Arsenal, albeit at youth level – spending a single year with their academy before being released. He then joined Watford’s youth ranks for two years , where he was eventually picked up by Spurs.
Talking ahead of Sunday’s north London derby, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger revealed he was left ‘a bit angry’ after discovering the 6 foot 2 striker had slipped through the club’s net.
He said; “I didn’t know that. I read it in the papers, sometimes you get good information there. So I found it quite funny, and you are always a bit angry as well, because I asked why did he go? But at nine years of age, boys move here and there. Some people move at youth level, because their parents find a different job, and they move somewhere else.”
Arsenal welcome Tottenham Hotspur to the Emirates at 4pm on Sunday.