Sir Geoff Hurst: 'Kane is England's best-ever'

Former England striker and the hero of our FIFA World Cup 1966 Final, Sir Geoff Hurst, believes current captain Harry Kane is the country’s best striker of all-time.

After scoring a hat-trick against West Germany at Wembley in the Final of ’66, and also notching the winner against Argentina in the quarter-final, Hurst knows more than most about what Kane and his England squad mates are aiming to do in North America this summer.

Looking at Kane’s record since his England debut back in 2015, Sir Geoff is left in no doubt that the Bayern Munich man is among the best.

Kane has also broken more records this summer, by becoming England’s top World Cup goalscorer as well as usurping Hurst’s 1966 team mate Bobby Moore as most games as captain.

“It's going to be hard to beat the goals he scored, so I’d say he’s England’s best,” admitted Hurst, who was speaking at Wembley Stadium ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final showdown with Argentina.

“His record now is just amazing for his appearances and the goals he's scoring and doing it in important games like we've seen in this tournament.

“His leadership is obvious, and that’s important. He's talking to the players after a game, when they're in the huddle and so on.

“Of course he's also a great example with his attitude, behaviour and the way he plays.

“He’s a superb example, not just in football but in his life, as a person and that is also important.”

Having played alongside Bobby Moore for many years for both England and West Ham United, Hurst sees certain parallels between the pair.

“There are certain people in walks of life whether it’s business or football, that emerge from within a group of people who automatically see them as the boss, the captain.

“In my time it was quite evidently Bobby Moore. Last year, a West Ham fan sent me a calendar with about 12 pictures in each of the months from around the time Bobby Moore was a schoolboy to when he left the club in ‘74.

“In the first schoolboy picture, maybe U10 or U11, he was in the team but was in the back row somewhere.

“The next year, he was right in the middle, as captain and holding the trophy as a schoolboy, within one year of having gone there.

“That's how he was and acted as a kid in being immaculate and so it happened at West Ham for him to be picked to captain from within the group of people, the players or the management, seeing him as the man ideally to be captain.

“And I think Harry Kane is absolutely in that same mould, not just on the field but off the field with all the stuff they do together.”

Hurst also took the opportunity to pay his own tribute to former Argentina captain Antonio Rattin, who passed away last week on the day his compatriots beat Switzerland to reach the semi-final.

Of course, Rattin was famously sent off in the 1966 World Cup quarter-final against England before Hurst scored the winning goal in the later stages of the second half.

"It's very sad of course, for it to happen sixty years on," said Hurst.

"He was the leader of their team, and they had some very good players.

"Of course, he got sent off which had an impact on the result for them to lose a very significant player at the time.

"It was sad news to hear this week."