Stones thinks England colleague Kane has the drive to keep hitting new heights

03 October 2017 06:59

John Stones believes Harry Kane has the drive and desire to keep hitting new heights, despite already establishing himself as the country’s top goalscorer.

Kane heads into England’s last two World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and Lithuania on the back of a remarkable 13 goals in his last eight appearances, a hot streak that began with a brace against Malta on September 1.

The Spurs striker is the talk of the Premier League as he hunts down a third successive golden boot and his continued success is no surprise to Stones, who first lined up with him when the pair were teenagers.

“I’ve played with him from England Under-19s so I know his game and how he plays, how hungry he is to keep improving,” said the Manchester City defender.

“Harry’s been doing it for years now and I think he’s got that hunger that he’ll keep doing it. He is in great form for his club and he’s raring to go and bring that into international football. It’s great to have him here for England.”

Stones stopped short of anointing Kane as the best striker in the country, with a hint of tribal loyalty to club-mates Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus to the fore, but did not hesitate when asked if he had the leadership skills to add the permanent England captaincy to his CV.

“I think obviously everyone has their own personal preference,” he said when asked if Kane was the Premier League’s number one.

“I play with different strikers to the boys here but his goals speak for themselves at the minute. In the team I’m in we’ve got a lot of players scoring goals, not just one kind of hitman who’s scoring week in, week out.

“It’s a difficult one, we’re both on the same team now but I’m not too sure what date we play Tottenham! Harry is in great form and hopefully he can bring that to the England team.”

As for captaincy, a role Kane has split with Jordan Henderson, Gary Cahill and Joe Hart in recent times, Stones added: “I think he’s got everything.

“There’s a lot of players, a lot of experience and a lot of candidates to be England captain. Harry is definitely one of those candidates.”

Source: By PA Sport Staff