Ballon d’Or winner Kane, who was recently crowned as the best player on the planet, made his senior international bow back in 2015. Few could have predicted at that stage what the next decade or so would bring.
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He took the skipper’s armband on a permanent basis in 2018 and has subsequently graced two World Cup semi-finals and a couple of European Championship finals. Major honours with the Three Lions have continued to fall agonisingly out of reach, but that has not been due to a lack of effort or contribution to the collective cause.
Bayern Munich talisman Kane has surged beyond Wayne Rooney’s previous record goal mark of 53 and is just nine strikes away from reaching triple figures. Against Croatia on Thursday, in a UEFA Nations League fixture, he will represent his nation for the 126th time and overtake Peter Shilton on the appearance front.
Ex-England frontman Bent knows all about the challenges of international football and told GOAL – while speaking in association with MrQ Online Casino – when asked how special an a achievement 100 goals at that level will be: “It’s going to be incredible. He’s about to get the all-time record for caps and appearances. Already England’s all-time top goal scorer, but he was always going to get to 100.
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“What he’s done since he’s been at England International, it’s scary. His numbers, the caps, just frightening. He’s always durable. He’s always out there. He always scores the goal. He’s always England’s main man.
“To get 100 goals in any capacity is always special. But to do it for your country, what an achievement that is. And he deserves it because of the hard work he’s put in. I think the big thing about Harry Kane, if you look at his journey, there’s Leyton Orient on there, Millwall’s on there, Norwich’s on there, Leicester’s on there. At no point did he ever think, probably, that he’d even be an international, let alone get to 100 goals. That just tells you the dedication, the hard work that he put in. He deserves every moment that he gets.”
It remains to be seen how high Kane will set England’s goal record bar, with time still very much on his side at 33 years of age. There has been no sign of him slowing down, with Ballon d’Or recognition coming his way after finding the target on 73 occasions across his outings for club and country in 2025-26.
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He continues to post stunning numbers, but Bent said when asked if his exploits – particularly on the scoring front – will ever be repeated: “It’ll get beaten. And the reason why it’ll get beaten is because we play so many internationals now. We play so many more than what we used to back in the day. And even when I played, there were fewer internationals back then than there are now. It feels like there’s an international break all the time.
“So with the amount of games, with World Cup competitions getting bigger, the Euros are probably going to get bigger. Now we’ve got the Nations League. There’s just more and more international games.
“I just think those records, like appearances and goals, yes, it’s going to obviously take something special to get beaten, but you play that many internationals now, I genuinely believe at some point, someone will break the goals and the appearance records because we play that many games.”
Kane faces little competition at present for his leading role in the England team. Leeds star Dominic Calvert-Lewin is currently filling back-up duties, but who should be considered a more long-term option to don the Three Lions’ No.9 jersey?
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When that question was put to Bent, with the likes of Liam Delap and Brian Madjo of Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa respectively having been mooted as potential stars of the future, the 10-cap and four-goal ex-Three Lions striker said: “It’s so hard because none of them have really been given a significant amount of time to showcase their skills.
“I almost feel like we’ve lost a whole generation of strikers because, certainly international strikers, Kane’s been so great for so long. I feel like we never saw the best of Jamie Vardy. We never really saw the best of Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney or Dominic Solanke. There’s been so many strikers. And even just before that, I know Sturridge was a bit older, but it just feels that we’ve never really seen the best of proper strikers because he’s managed to hold them off, and that’s fair play to him.
“So, who comes next is going to be intriguing. I like Madjo at Villa, good player. I like the two goals Delap scored at the weekend [against Manchester City]. He shows he’s got pedigree. But really, Harry Kane might go on for another four or five years yet. So, we still don’t know who’s next, but it’s going to be interesting to see who can come in and do that job.”
That is not an issue of pressing concern to England and head coach Thomas Tuchel, with Kane ready to emulate GOATs such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo by playing on towards his 40th birthday.
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There will come a day when boots have to be hung up for the final time, with impressive entries being etched into the history books, but that remains some way off and one of the greatest goal-getters of this or any other generation should be cherished and celebrated for as long as he continues to make himself available.
