JOEY BARTON has claimed that Wayne Rooney and three other England legends are better than Harry Kane.
The Tottenham star scored against both Italy and Ukraine during the international break to hit a tally of 55 goals in 82 games for his country.
This made him England’s all-time record goalscorer as he moved above Rooney, who found the back of the net 53 times in 120 caps.
Despite Kane’s more impressive stats, Barton believes that the former Manchester United man is “levels above” the Spurs ace.
He tweeted: “People comparing Wayne Rooney and Harry Kane?
“Rooney is in a completely different stratosphere. Levels and levels and levels above.”
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Barton attached a long list of minnows that Kane has scored against, such as San Marino, Andorra and Lithuania.
The Bristol Rovers boss then added the fact he’s scored 18 penalties and went on to claim he has only scored “four in decent games”.
He failed to mention the fact that Rooney scored versus many lesser sides too, like Estonia, Lichtenstein and Belarus.
In a later tweet, Barton said three ex-strikers were better than Kane.
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He wrote: “Respect what Harry Kane has done but let’s settle down on the goal record.
“Michael Owen. Alan Shearer. Gary Lineker. All light years ahead as marksmen. Rooney is just a well better player. The last world-class Englishmen.”
Owen managed 40 goals for England in 89 games, Lineker got 48 in 80 and Shearer netted 30 in 63 matches.
Barton did go on to praise Jude Bellingham, saying: “He has a chance to be world-class of the current mob.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk