World Cup 2022: Kane eyes becoming England’s greatest goalscorer

Already guaranteed legendary status at Tottenham Hotspur, where he is just seven goals short of Jimmy Greaves’ club record 266, Kane has another shot at immortality on the international stage should he fire Gareth Southgate’s men to a first major tournament win in 56 years.

(FILE) Already England’s joint record goalscorer at major tournaments with 10 alongside Gary Lineker, Kane has a World Cup Golden Boot and three Premier League Golden Boots to his name. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

History beckons for Harry Kane in Qatar with the England captain just two goals away from matching Wayne Rooney’s record of 53 for the Three Lions.

But unless Kane lifts the World Cup aloft at the Lusail Stadium on December 18, he will enter the year he turns 30 still without a major trophy to his name.

Already guaranteed legendary status at Tottenham Hotspur, where he is just seven goals short of Jimmy Greaves’ club record 266, Kane has another shot at immortality on the international stage should he fire Gareth Southgate’s men to a first major tournament win in 56 years.

He has come agonisingly close to the biggest prizes in the game for both club and country.

Kane scored in the shootout as England lost on penalties in front of a home crowd in the Euro 2020 final against Italy 16 months ago.

He was also on the losing side when Tottenham reached the Champions League final for the first time in their history in 2019, going down 2-0 to Liverpool in Madrid.

Instead his career has been littered with personal accolades and goalscoring records in a remarkable rise from unspectacular loan spells at Leyton Orient, Millwall, Norwich City and Leicester City early in his career.

Already England’s joint record goalscorer at major tournaments with 10 alongside Gary Lineker, Kane has a World Cup Golden Boot and three Premier League Golden Boots to his name.

“I’m close, I try not to think about it too much but with the World Cup coming up it would be an amazing place to go and achieve that,” Kane said on the prospect of becoming England’s record goalscorer in Qatar.

“I’m sure when it comes around I’ll be ready to go and if I do do it this winter it will be extremely pleasing.”

Southgate has made clear his wish that the record-breaking goal comes in the final.

Career crossroads

But should England fall short, it will put even greater emphasis on what happens next for their star man.

With 18 months left on his contract at Tottenham, Kane’s career is at a crossroads.

He tried and failed to force Spurs into transfer talks with Manchester City in the weeks following England’s Euro final defeat last year.

The arrival of Erling Haaland in Manchester seems to have closed that door with Bayern Munich now the frontrunner should Kane finally leave north London behind.

“I think people would forgive him if he said at a certain point, if it’s next summer or the summer after when his contract is definitely over, that he will move on to a club that might give him a higher probability to win trophies,” Jurgen Klinsmann, who made the same move from Spurs to Bayern in 1995, told The Athletic.

England could also benefit from Kane moving on to a club not so reliant on him as Tottenham is.

He has played all but 12 minutes of every single Premier League and Champions League game for Antonio Conte’s men so far this season during a notoriously brutal schedule to cram fixtures in before the World Cup.

Until now his body and form have held up with only Haaland scoring more Premier League goals.

The fear for England is that its star man may be burned out even before the action heats up in the Middle East.