Harry Kane’s early doubters were exclusively from the Tottenham hierarchy, and certainly not from the stars who trained with him.

The Bayern Munich hitman is now Spurs and England’s record goalscorer, having initially endured struggles to break through.

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Kane spent much of his early years on loan at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich and Leicester before finding his feet in the Spurs first-team.

Tim Sherwood has since revealed that during this period, he was instructed to get rid of the striker when he was Tottenham boss.

But he resisted the pressure after believing in his abilities – and his opinion has been shared by those working up close with him.

Dominic Ball and Harry Kane shared the field at Tottenham’s Under-21 team, where the 31-year-old Kane scored a hat-trick during their impressive 6-3 victory against Manchester City in a Barclays U21 Premier League match in 2013.

Less than 12 months later, Kane was given his first senior top-flight start for Spurs and the rest, as they say, is history.

In an exclusive conversation with talkSPORT.com, set up through a media day hosted by Cambridge’s new sponsors, Brooks Running, Ball revealed that Kane’s talent was apparent from the start.

“Yes, it was [obvious what level he was going to get to],” the new U’s signing admitted.

“I only had a chance to train with him for one pre-season,” Ball mentioned, “and it was clear to me then, ‘wow, this guy is going to be incredibly challenging to play against.’

“If I open my legs to try and block, he’d put it through my legs. If I wasn’t big enough, he’d rip it into the top corner.

“His finishing has taken him to a level, and then everything else he’s built up mainly because he’s just so focused, his mindset has always been ‘I wanna be the best’ and he is – He’s been one of the best strikers in the world for a while.”

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Over a decade later, Ball has also seen first-hand another Tottenham starlet looking to emulate Kane’s exact pathway at the club.

The 29-year-old spent last season at Leyton Orient alongside Spurs loanee Jamie Donley before rejoining Cambridge this summer.

Donley initially struggled to get to grips with his first taste of senior football, playing just one minute of league football last November.

However, the 20-year-old rapidly turned around his fortunes at Brisbane Road to be named the O’s Player of the Year.

The Northern Ireland international scored eight goals and registered 10 assists as Orient narrowly lost in the League One play-off final to Charlton.

Donley is now hoping like Kane that his temporary stint at Orient could prove to be a springboard to success at Spurs.

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Ball added to talkSPORT: “That was his first loan, his first length of games, and there was a period at the start of the season where he wasn’t playing and things weren’t going well, and he had a choice to make.

“Go back to Spurs and just accept a failed loan, or sort of dig deep and make it happen.

“I remember just saying to him, like Jay, even for yourself, keep training hard for yourself, because it will change.

“There are so many things happening in football out of your control, but you train hard for yourself.

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“I remember saying to him in the first game that me and him played together. I was like, we’re entertainers, let’s relax, let’s enjoy this.

“And he always said that he kept that with him, and he ended up being our most influential player.

“I don’t know what his level’s gonna be – whether that’s Prem, Champ, or even higher.

“But I’m looking forward to seeing him sort of progress because he is a talent!”