66 England goals
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There can be little doubt England have a generational striker in their team right now, and he’s hungry for more. “Watching [Cristiano] Ronaldo score aged 39 inspires me to play for as long as possible. I love representing England more than anything and I don’t want it to end any time soon.” said Three Lions skipper Harry Kane in the build-up to England facing Finland at Wembley on Tuesday in the Nations League. The encounter will mark a special occasion for Kane, with the striker set to become just the 10th player to hit 100 caps for England, and the first player to do so since Wayne Rooney a decade ago. If the 31 year old does make it anywhere near Ronaldo’s feat of representing his nation at 39 years old, he is very likely to pass Peter Shilton’s cap record of 125 appearances.
Kane already holds the accolade of being England’s greatest ever goalscorer. He overtook Rooney’s 53 goals back in March 2023, and already now currently has 66 goals for his nation. Down the years the Three Lions have boasted some of the greatest strikers the game has ever seen. From Jimmy Greaves to Rooney, from Gary Lineker to Alan Shearer. But is Kane now perhaps the greatest ever striker to put on an England shirt?
Is Harry Kane England’s greatest striker? His record vs other top England forwards
“Who knows how many caps or goals I can get, but I’m hungry for more.” Kane posed in his pre-match press conference. For a player not reliant on pace it’s likely that Kane can still compete at the very top level for at least the next four years. When we pose the question of whether Kane is England’s greatest ever all-round striker, we have compared him to five other Three Lions’ greats who played up top. When this debate arises, the names usually mentioned are Greaves, Lineker, Rooney, Shearer, and Kane. Sir Geoff Hurst was of course England’s hero in 1966 scoring the hat-trick in the World Cup winning final against West Germany, but only scored 24 goals in 49 games for England, and wouldn’t have even been the starting striker had Greaves been fit and available that tournament.
As you can see above, when we compare those five elite striker’s record’s for England, only Greaves (0.77 goals per game) boasts a better goals per game record than Kane (0.66gpg). Whilst Greaves’ record of 44 goals in 57 games is nothing short of sensational, longevity must also be taken into account. Kane has scored 22 goals more than Greaves for England, and played an extra 42 games. Lineker gets close to Kane with (0.60gpg) whilst Shearer (0.48gpg) and Rooney (0.44gpg) fall well short.
Despite being bottom of that particular list, many people could argue that Rooney is not an out-an-out goalscorer as much as the others. You could decipher that he has the best all round game and was the most talented of all those five strikers. But whilst Lineker, Shearer and Greaves could be accused of being all about the goals and quantified as poachers, the other striker who has the best all round game in terms of link up play is probably Kane. The Bayern Munich striker has become synonymous with dropping deep and getting assists, as well as scoring an outrageous number of goals.
Of course the majority of England caps players make can come in either friendlies or qualifiers. In these matches the opponent can often be a much lower level, with some players granted the opportunity to rack up their goals tally against the likes of San Marino or Liechtenstein. But as you can see above, when it comes to just the goals scored at major tournaments (World Cups and European Championships) Kane is way out ahead for England with 15 goals. He has scored eight in World Cups and seven overall goals at the Euros. Lineker is England’s top scorer at World Cups alone with 10, but never scored at a European Championship. Remarkably, Greaves, prolific throughout his career, only scored one goal at a major tournament for England – a solitary strike in the 1962 World Cup.
It should also be taken into account that Kane has already captained his country for 72 of his caps. England’s greatest goalscorer, about to join an exclusive club of player’s to have made 100 appearances for the Three Lions, and has led England to two major finals, it’s becoming hard to not consider Kane as England’s greatest ever striker. Nevertheless, at 31 years of age, he has still never won a major trophy. If he managed to win something with England, that would surely cement Kane as England’s best ever striker, and some may argue even perhaps the greatest ever player to put on an England shirt.