Harry Kane, the 21-year-old phenom who's destroying the Premier League, is the most hyped player in England

A year ago Harry Kane was a rarely used, 20-year-old Tottenham forward without a Premier League goal to his name. 

In April of 2014 he started to put himself on the map, scoring goals in three-straight starts. The Daily Mail ran a small hype piece comparing Kane with an English legend. After the season - as England prepared for its doomed World Cup campaign - the Mirror published a rumor that Crystal Palace and Stoke were pushing to buy him for $7.5 million, a decent price for a young player with some talent but little experience.

Twelve months after getting his first extended minutes with Tottenham, and eight months after England's group stage exit in Brazil, Kane is a full-blown sensation. 

He has scored 19 goals in the Premier League, which is tied with Chelsea's Diego Costa for the league lead, despite spending the first two months of the season on the bench. His England teammates are calling for him to win player of the year in his first full season. Former Manchester City player Rodney Marsh said he's worth $150 million.

 

90,000 people bought tickets for his debut with the England national team in a European Championship qualifier against Lithuania. He came off the bench in the 72nd minute. Eighty seconds later, he scored.

He said after the game, "It's the start I dreamed of, it's a little bit of a blur at the minute. It's the best moment by far, to represent your country at senior level is the top. Hopefully I can keep doing it and it's the first of many."

Before his first England start against Italy, the hype continues to build: 

"I'm as excited as everyone in the country," Wayne Rooney said at a press conference before the Italy game.

Rooney went on to describe what makes Kane so good (via The Telegraph):

"I've seen a lot of comparisons out there, but he's his own player. He's good in the air, can shoot both feet. The exciting thing about him is he can take the ball on, he's running at players, which is great to see, a young player doing that. At the moment he's very confident to score."

In writing about "Kane fever," the Telegraph's lead soccer writer Henry Winter summed up Kane's appeal to the English fan:

The appetite for a home-grown, clean-cut and modest professional was writ large at Wembley. Kane represents an antidote to some of the more garish elements of the modern game. He embodies an uncomplicated love of the game and pure desire for self-development. He is also 'one of our own,' borrowing the language of the Lane, as opposed to one of a batch from overseas.

The history of modern soccer is littered with cautionary tales of young players who never lived up to the hype. That's why even as Kane puts up numbers that put him among the best players in the world, one of the popular responses from fans is to parody the hype:

England has been on fire since their disastrous World Cup campaign, winning seven-straight games and outscoring its opponents 19-2. Almost all of that came without Kane in the squad, but as they head for next summer's Euros, he'll be the team's most obsessed-over figure.