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Harry Kane Can Break Alan Shearer’s Goalscoring Record

By Tarek Hisham

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 20: Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates as he scores their first goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and A.F.C. Bournemouth at White Hart Lane on March 20, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 20: Harry Kane of Tottenham Hotspur celebrates as he scores their first goal during the Barclays Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and A.F.C. Bournemouth at White Hart Lane on March 20, 2016 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images) /
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Tottenham striker Harry Kane has set his sights on Alan Shearer’s all-time Premier League goals record.

When people discuss who the greatest English goalscorers are, names like Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney, Jimmy Greaves, and Frank Lampard are mentioned most often. As far as the greatest Premier League scorer goes, no one even comes close to the legendary Alan Shearer but one current player in Harry Kane hopes to one day be mentioned in the same breath.

The young Tottenham striker has 45 goals in 76 appearances and less than two full seasons combined in the Premier League. He is top of the league’s goalscoring charts and has expressed a desire to one day break Shearer’s legendary record even if it seems so far away at the moment.

In 14 seasons with Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, Shearer scored an absurd 260 goals in the Premier League. If his First Division tally is included then the total jumps up to 283, placing him fifth on the all-time scoring list in top-flight English football behind Jimmy Greaves and several others.

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Shearer had four seasons with 20+ goals and a further three with 30+ goals in the league. Aside from those three seasons, all of which came with Blackburn Rovers, Shearer did not register eye-popping numbers for the majority of his career. What was truly impressive was his consistency in scoring double digit goals despite dealing with injuries that cut several of his seasons short.

The English striker’s longevity was equally impressive as he played 19 years in the top-flight, 17 of which as a regular in his team’s starting XI and 14 in the Premier League. That comes out to an average of 18.5 goals scored in each season of his Premier League career.

So, as the title of this article suggests, not only does Harry Kane want to break that record, but he certainly can if a few things go right. We have seen Wayne Rooney mount a challenge to Shearer’s record as well but he has been cut down in recent years with fitness issues and has lost much of explosiveness. If Kane can avoid serious injury above all else, then he can one day match Shearer’s record.

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With 45 to his name already, Kane needs a further 215 to match the record. His current pace is between 20-25 goals a season and it is reasonable to expect that he can continue at that pace for at least the next six to eight years. At just 22-years-old, Kane is not yet at his prime and some can argue that he will not truly enter it until he reaches his late 20s.

If he scores 20 goals a season for the next eight years until he is 30, he will have a total of 205 goals. This number is helped by the fact that he is the club’s primary penalty taker which boosted the totals of players like Frank Lampard. Also, with the advances in medicine and nutrition that we have, it is not unreasonable to think  that he can play at the top level until he is 35-years-old.

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Several other world-class strikers have played in the Premier League at that age and have still managed at a decent clip. Shearer played until he was 36, Drogba until he was 35, Andy Cole until he was 35, and Les Ferdinand did not hang it up until he was 39!

So by the conservative estimate of 15 goals a season, Harry Kane needs to play another 14 years in the Premier League to match his idol’s record. While it is no sure thing, it is certainly possible and if any of the current generation’s strikers can do it, Harry Kane can.

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