Harry Kane has Wayne Rooney’s England goal record firmly in his sights.
The Tottenham striker and national captain is now on 50 for his country, three behind top scoring Rooney.
Kane, just the second England player to reach 50, has taken 71 games to get there, while Rooney scored his 53 goals in 120 games.
He climbed quickly from fifth to third on the goal scorers list with seven goals in two games against Albania and San Marino in November, and scored against Switzerland in March to move level with Sir Bobby Charlton.
The 2018 World Cup Golden Boot winner has time on his side to chase down Rooney given that he will be 29 in the summer and there are still three Nations League games to play before the World Cup starts in November.
It’s incredible progress from Kane particularly because he only made his England debut in March 2015 – a game where he scored with his first touch of the ball.
talkSPORT pundit Jason Cundy has tipped Kane to ‘breeze’ past Rooney’s England tally.
You can see the table below of England’s top scorers and how far away Kane is from being number one…
He said: “How on Earth can Harry Kane be within touching distance of Rooney? How can he get close? He’s going to overtake Rooney.
“He’s not a better player than Rooney, I just think Rooney did not achieve his full potential. Wayne Rooney should be on 60, 70 maybe 80 goals for England.
“Kane hasn’t played anywhere near the [amount of] games as Rooney, but he is going to breeze it.
“That record for [Sir] Bobby Charlton stood for 40 years and Wayne Rooney is only going to hold this record for 5, 6, 7 years.
“Kane gets the absolute maximum out of his ability, Rooney, I don’t think has.
“It sounds harsh because of what he achieved in the game, but I don’t think it is that harsh. I genuinely believe that.”
Kane’s scoring rate had slowed slightly since moving into England’s top six scorers with 31 goals in his first 44 caps, though Rooney – by the time he had played 71 times for England like Kane has – had just 28 goals after 71 caps and took 107 to reach 50.
When Rooney was the same age Kane is now, he had 40 goals from 95 caps. He went on to win a further 25, with Kane looking likely to at least match that and set an imposing new goal record barring long-term injury or a complete loss of form. Kane has captained England in 46 of his 71 games, already more than doubling Rooney’s 22 games in the armband.
All but four of Kane’s goals have come in England wins, with 22 in England compared to 19 away and eight on neutral territory. He has five against San Marino and four each against Albania, Bulgaria and Montenegro.
Fifteen penalties have helped him along the way – on three separate occasions he has scored two spot-kicks as part of a hat-trick.
Source: Talk Sport