Raul visit 'amazing' for Harry Kane and Tottenham, says Mauricio Pochettino
Friday 4 May 2018 13:53, UK
Mauricio Pochettino believes Real Madrid legend Raul has provided Harry Kane with the perfect example to follow as he continues his pursuit of team and individual honours at Tottenham.
Raul trained with Spurs in Enfield on Thursday as part of a course to obtain his coaching qualifications, as he prepares to take charge of Madrid's Juvenil B team next season.
Raul scored 323 goals in 741 appearances for Madrid during a 16-year spell with his boyhood club and Pochettino believes Kane should use the Spaniard's success as inspiration, as he looks to overhaul Mohamed Salah in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot.
"He needs to be focussed," said Pochettino. "Like all the players he tries to help the team to be in the top four, of course if he scores and has the possibility to catch Salah, it will be fantastic.
"Listening to Raul yesterday was amazing, we were with 20 young players, all the coaching staff, Hugo (Lloris) and Harry (Kane).
"He said 'My aims, my challenge was to always win, for the team to win… and then to score is fantastic but I'm happy when the team win. That is most important'.
"Harry Kane is one of the best strikers, if he works hard for the team he will have the possibility to score. The bigger challenge, the bigger target, is to finish in the top four."
Pochettino believes Tottenham's youngsters will have benefited from speaking to Raul, who won 11 trophies during his time at the Bernabeu.
"It was fantastic to share the whole day with him yesterday," said Pochettino. "To choose Tottenham to try to learn to see how we work, that is a massive plus for us.
"I wanted to say thank you because he was hoping to meet our younger players too - it was a fantastic 45 minutes talking about his career, giving advice to the younger players.
"To see how humble he is - a player like him, a legend, it was a massive day."
Tottenham travel to face West Brom at The Hawthorns on Saturday and Pochettino insists Spurs can take nothing for granted against the league's bottom side, who have enjoyed a resurgence in form under caretaker manager Darren Moore.
"The battle will be massive," he said. "The last few games they [West Brom] are showing great character, the capacity to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford and the draw against Liverpool.
"They are doing fantastically in the last few months. They have the belief. It will be a massive battle for us, we are playing for the Champions League."
