Former player claims Kane can be England’s greatest with better team-mates

3 min readJul 3, 2026 06:55 PM IST

Harry Kane in action. (AP photo)

Harry Kane has been the highest scorer ever for England with 84 goals. However, he does not have the silverware in his cabinet, which would have complemented his individual brilliance. Former England defender Jamie Carragher opined that if Kane had better teammates, as Sir Bobby Charlton did, Kane would have eclipsed Charlton’s greatness.

“For us, Kane in 2026 is exactly what Charlton was to the country 60 years ago – the beacon of hope which made the supporters believe we can finally win a major tournament. Sadly, he does not have Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks or Alan Ball alongside him to make those dreams a reality,” wrote Carragher in the Telegraph.

Charlton, who played multiple positions throughout his career, won the 1966 and only World Cup with England and later won a Ballon d’Or.

“In a stronger England era – with more world-class players around him like the Manchester United legend had in 1966 – Kane would not only have a chance of matching Charlton. He would be in a better position to eclipse him,” Carragher wrote.

“Given his form and status, the World Cup should be in Kane’s sights. If the vote for the Ballon d’Or was being held right now, Kane would be the worthy winner, his heroics for England against DR Congo absorbing his 72nd goal of this season. Only Lionel Messi has recently hit those kinds of numbers. Not even Cristiano Ronaldo was so prolific in one campaign,” the former Liverpool player wrote.

Even in his club career, despite individual success at Tottenham Hotspur, he could not win a title and had to make his move to German giants Bayern Munich.

“Until he joined Bayern Munich, the biggest obstacle to Kane winning the biggest prizes in football was the team he played for. All those years when he suffered the jibes for never winning anything had nothing to do with his ability,” Carragher opined.

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“Right now, Kane must think playing for England is similar to playing for Tottenham Hotspur, when he knew that no matter how many he scored, or how close he was to a 10/10 individual performance, he would miss out on winners’ medals. The rest of the team was nowhere near good enough,” he said.