Chris Sutton has responded to suggestions of Harry Kane stat-padding by stating he is “not the fixtures secretary” and he “can’t help who he plays against.”
Kane is one of the most in-form players in club football in the world at the moment. He has already scored 18 goals and assisted three for Bayern Munich this season.
He is also on a fantastic run of form for England. The Three Lions skipper has scored seven goals in his last eight games for his country.
However, Senegal are the only side he’s played against during that run who are in the top 20 nations in the FIFA rankings.
England’s record goalscorer, with 74 goals in 109 games, has frequently been hit with claims that he stat-pads against lesser sides, but Sutton has hit back at those for him.
Speaking to BBC Sport, he said: “If Harry Kane announced his retirement from international football today, we would instantly view the England team and their chances at next year’s World Cup in a completely different light.
“Kane may not have too long left with England, but who is the replacement? Who is anywhere near his level? No-one. That tells you all you need to know. As an all-rounder and ruthless goalscorer, England haven’t had many better.
“People say about scoring goals in qualifiers but he’s not the fixtures secretary, is he? He can’t help who he plays against. He’s a goalscoring machine and has been all his career. When you are talking about all-time great England strikers, he has to be in that conversation. Just look at his numbers.”
During his England career, Kane has scored goals against big sides such as: Germany, France, Nigeria, Croatia, Denmark, the Netherlands and Italy.
He has scored 44 goals in qualifying for either the European championships or the World Cup, and while some have been against lesser teams, some have certainly been against some good ones.
In tournament football itself, Kane has 15 goals to his name, including in two Euros semi-finals, a World Cup quarter-final and multiple stages of those tournaments leading up to those.
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Sutton added: “Anybody who has played either with or against him, raves about him.
“If people do not give him the credit he deserves, it may be because he’s been England’s main man for so long. People are sometimes there to chop you down.
“England players get judged on major tournaments and if they don’t win it the criticism comes, with the high-profile captain usually first in that firing line.
“You can have rivalries, tribalism and social media, and there will be people who put the boot in, but you won’t get anyone who has played the game to a reasonable level having any doubts about him. And I think most fair-minded supporters recognise what a player Harry Kane is.”
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