The statue has been locked away in storage (Picture: Big Issue/Waltham Forest Council/Sculpture Machine Ltd)
The first photos of a secret Harry Kane statue which has been hidden away for years have finally been revealed.
The statue of Kane, who is England’s record goalscorer, has been confined to storage because Waltham Forest council in east London have been unable to find a suitable location for it.
The Big Issue magazine has now published a series of pictures of the statue which shows Kane, who was born in Walthamstow but grew up in Chingford, sitting on a bench in an England kit whilst holding a ball on his left knee.
The much-derided sculpture was completed in 2020 at a cost of £7,200.
Local Conservative councillors had tried to place the statue at Chingford’s Overground railway station, but those plans had to be parked after Transport for London carried out a risk assessment and warned that it could be targeted by rival football fans.
The statue will be placed on a park bench (Picture: Big Issue/Waltham Forest Council/Sculpture Machine Ltd)
Kane has been honoured with his own statue (Picture: Big Issue/Waltham Forest Council/Sculpture Machine Ltd)
There were also attempts to place it in Ridgeway Park, given Kane played for the local youth team Ridgeway Rovers, but those plans were also squashed.
The leader of Waltham Forest Conservatives, Emma Best, has insisted ‘hours and hours’ have been spent trying to find a suitable spot for the statue.
A spokesperson for Kane, meanwhile, has said they are ‘really exited’ about the statue and they are keen for a location to be identified soon.
‘It is what he deserves. The location of the statue is really important to us, and like Emma said, we are having some issues at the moment, but when we get it right we will be happy to go, Kane’s spokesperson told the BBC.
‘Especially with Harry being England and Tottenham’s all time top goal scorer. It is what he deserves.’
Kane, who has scored 37 goals for Bayern Munich in his debut season in Germany, attended Larkswood Acedemy and then later the Chingford foundation school.
Funding for the statue was sourced from a fund allocated to ‘local initiatives projects or improvements’ that was shared between the borough’s 22 wards.