HARRY Kane’s failure to score on his first England start against Italy on Tuesday night was one of the few times this season that the 21-year-old hasn’t followed what has appeared to be a Roy of the Rovers script written just for him.

His emergence from the fringes of Tottenham’s squad to England’s brightest young star has been remarkable and his 29 goals for Spurs mean he will be the one Burnley will have to watch closely when Mauricio Pochettino’s team visit Turf Moor on Easter Sunday.

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On Tuesday Sean Dyche revealed he had tried to bring in Kane on loan for the Clarets towards the start of last season, only for the move to be thwarted by injury.

But Dyche was right to point out the positive effect that the four loan moves Kane did experience had on him and his game.

Let’s be honest, development squad football is no substitute for playing competitive matches that actually matter in the Football League.

The only way a young player is going to learn and develop, if they aren’t fast-tracked into their parent club’s first team, is by experiencing the rough and tumble of life in the lower leagues, where points matter.

It is through that route that Kane has developed into the player he is.

His record on loan at his various clubs might not have been great, but as Dyche points out a loan move can be about far more than just putting in good performances. It’s part of a learning curve.

Kane scored 16 goals in 65 games during spells with Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich City and Leicester, a record which is nowhere near his 34 goals in 69 games for Spurs.

But if he had remained playing inconsequential football in front of one man and his dog for a development squad, would he be making the waves he is now?

Burnley have made full use of the Football League’s loan window recently, with Alex Cisak, Luke O’Neill, Danny Lafferty and Jason Gilchrist all out on temporary moves at the moment, with Steven Hewitt at Southport in the Conference, a far more worthwhile exercise than the football they were playing.

Gilchrist is experiencing his first taste of competitive league football, Hewitt his second taste of Conference action, while the others are used to the life of hotels, new managers and team-mates that a loan move can bring.

But as Dyche said on Tuesday it doesn’t always have to be the ‘glory loan’.

Kane’s club and international team-mate Andros Townsend is another example of the benefits of regular loan moves.

It might be asking a lot for Burnley’s young stars to hit the same heights, but going out on loan is a far more worthwhile experience for them than development squad football.