Gary Lineker and Harry Maguire discuss Harry Kane ahead of England’s game against Ghana
Gary Lineker (Image: Rest is Football/Netflix)
Manager Gary Lineker has revealed that he does not agree with Harry Maguire’s view of Harry Kane’s determination to follow in the footsteps of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe in scoring at the World Cup. Kane has already scored two goals after the Three Lions opened the tournament with a 4-2 win over Croatia.
The World Cup has already seen some of world football’s biggest stars regularly appearing behind the net this summer.
Messi has scored five goals for Argentina, Mbappe has scored four for France so far this tournament, and Norway’s Erling Haaland has matched that tally.
Kane will be hoping to add to his record when England face Ghana in their next Group L match on Tuesday night, a topic that also came up in the latest episode of Netflix’s ‘The Rest of Football’.
Lineker was joined on Tuesday’s show by Maguire, who was not called up for England’s World Cup squad this summer, and former Chelsea star Joe Cole also appeared on the latest episode.
Lineker pondered his question to Maguire, saying: “Messi, Haaland, Mbappe (all in goal) – Harry (Kane) will see that, right?”
The Manchester United defender reacted to this and explained why he doesn’t think Kane will focus on following the aforementioned trio into scoring again.
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“He (Kane) will see that,” Maguire said. “But he’s not that type of player – he’s very humble – I don’t think he thinks, ‘He scored a goal, I have to score too.’
“I don’t think he’s someone who cares about other people. He’s very much a team player.”
Cole then joined in, joking that he believed Lineker had a different opinion. He said, “Gary’s eyes say otherwise, strikers unite!”
Mr Lineker made it clear exactly what he thought of Mr Maguire’s views. The former striker said with a laugh: “Well, I think that’s terrible.”
Harry Kane scored twice in England’s win over Croatia last week (Image: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire.)
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Maguire went on to defend his opinion and explain why he believes Kane has a different mindset when it comes to scoring goals compared to the likes of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The United defender said: “No, he (Kane) is a team player and will put the team first. He loves to score goals. If he didn’t love to score goals, he wouldn’t be able to score so many goals.”
“But I don’t think he cares too much about other players. On the other hand, Ronaldo and Messi have always been in competition and things like that happened.”
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