Harry Kane has a daily reminder of his desire to become England’s record goalscorer after being inspired by Wayne Rooney.
The England captain, 28, goes into Tuesday night’s Nations League game against Hungary at Molineux with 50 goals for his country, just three goals behind Rooney’s all-time record.
Kane scored within 79 seconds of his debut after replacing Rooney in a European Championship qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley on 27 March 2015, a game England won 3-0.
Six months later, both players scored on the historic night Rooney scored his 50th international goal to take Sir Bobby Charlton’s England record, in a 2-0 win against Switzerland in another Euro qualifier.
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“Back then it was a million miles away in terms of his goalscoring record,” said Kane. “I remember that night he broke the record, playing and scoring in that game, I remember how much it meant to him, and even for me being a part of it.
“I kept the shirt from that day and I have it up in my house. Not for any reason, but maybe looking at that every day gave me the motivation to one day try to achieve that.
“I’m close, but I’m not there yet and I’ve still a got a few more goals to go but I’ve been happy with my England career so far. There’s room for improvement – there’s more success that I want to have and for sure that comes more with a team aspect in terms of major tournaments, but I look forward to that challenge.”
Kane’s talent for scoring goals is beyond question. But it’s his desire to continue to improve that sets him apart, according to Gareth Southgate.
“There’s the technical and then there’s the mentality. Technically he is an incredible finisher,” said the England manager. “You watch players work in training and balls come at different angles and there is a calmness to that but the technique is still at the top level.
“Then there’s this mentality of ‘how do I get better? What do I need to do to be in the best condition? What is it that might add to the tools I’ve got? Is it physical? Is it a technical practice? Is it something tactical?’
“He has just got that insatiable drive to be the best he can possibly be. He’s committed to living his life the right way, eating the right things, the right sort of recovery – whatever that takes, however long that takes, he does it.”
Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher, 22, is the only player in the squad not to be used in the Nations League by Southgate yet.
The England coach said that those on the fringes must be patient.
“You have to earn your England caps. Although we are trying to look at things, everybody has to be patient,” he said.
“He’ll have a chance. The reason is just the teams and formations we’ve picked haven’t necessarily fitted up to this point.
“We think it’s important to have a squad that has a great collective mentality and that’s going to be huge as we move forward to the World Cup. Because when we get to the World Cup we won’t be just handing minutes out to people.”
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