Harry Kane is now England’s most-capped men’s player as well as his country’s record goalscorer, but harder to quantify is where these achievements place him among the Three Lions’ greatest ever players.
This is a tricky debate with so many variables and a timescale as old as the game itself and, to my mind, not merely a determination of a player’s individual ability but also a measure of their impact upon the nation’s psyche.
Ballon d’Or winners Stanley Matthews, Kevin Keegan and Michael Owen would surely have a shout if the criteria was such, not to mention genius technicians such as Glenn Hoddle, Chris Waddle and John Barnes.
Likewise, if any England boss managed to extract the best from Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard they would be surely making a classic late dart from midfield.
But to qualify as one of the greatest England players of all time, you need the above ability combined with an impactful overall contribution – those memorable moments and an element of longevity – in a Three Lions shirt.
It might be controversial then to leave out Geoff Hurst, who produced the most recognisable performance in England history, while the man he replaced, Jimmy Greaves, would be a shoo-in were it not for injury earlier in the tournament.
It is also hard to rank the contribution of those whose best football came outside of major tournaments and before the dawn of continental competitions – see Eddie Hapgood, Tom Finney, Nat Lofthouse, Dixie Dean et al.
There are only 10 spots, after all, so here we go.
