England captain Harry Kane insists he does not feel overburdened as he continues his quest to become the nation’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Kane reached a half-century of senior Three Lions goals as his late penalty salvaged a 1-1 draw against Germany last week.
It is the only goal England have managed in their three Nations League fixtures this month with the visit of Hungary to Molineux on Tuesday night their last of the season.
Manager Gareth Southgate said after the goalless stalemate with Italy on Saturday that he was “concerned” by the reliance on both Kane and Raheem Sterling to score the goals for England.
Asked if he enjoys the pressure of being the player everyone expects to score, Kane replied: “As a striker you have that expectation of yourself and the team have it on you to produce as well.
“I enjoy scoring goals and winning games. That’s the most important thing. I always try to do my best to help the team in every aspect, whether it’s scoring, assists, defending, set-plays.
“There’s no pressure from the other players in terms of making me feel nervous about scoring.
“We all know our responsibilities and our jobs and I try to take that responsibility as one of the experienced players. I just enjoy scoring goals.”
The Tottenham striker also backed his team-mates to get back among the goals, with the remainder of the squad currently working with Southgate ahead of the Hungary clash totalling 49 – one short of Kane’s individual contribution, who in turn is just three shy of Wayne Rooney’s all-time record.
“If you look over the last two or three years, we’ve definitely had goals in different areas in terms of set-plays, defenders getting goals, midfielders picking up goals,” he said.
“But I think in any team, any top team, you’re going to have a main striker who gets the majority of the goals, a main attacking winger who’s going to get some goals.
“I’m sure every lad who puts on an England shirt wants to go out and score and get assists and affect the game so I guess the most important thing is the mentality, to have that hunger to go and get those goals and that’s kind of what I speak to my team-mates about – getting in the box, the back post, midfield runners getting in there, that’s really important.
“I think going into major tournament football, we’ve done that pretty well. But look, we’re still learning, still improving, the boys are eager to score as many goals as possible and help the team out.”
🥇 Most Castrol Golden Boots in #PL history:— Premier League (@premierleague) May 24, 2022
Kane’s goals at club level have seen him win the Premier League golden boot on three different occasions.
His position as one of the deadliest finishers in the division could come under threat following Manchester City’s signing of Erling Haaland and the seemingly-imminent arrival of Darwin Nunez at Liverpool.
“The battle for the Golden Boot’s always tough,” he added.
“The Premier League has produced top strikers from around the world for a number of years now.
Blue looks good on you, @ErlingHaaland 🤩 pic.twitter.com/lptdvUt4fD— Manchester City (@ManCity) June 13, 2022
“Every season I’ve been playing it’s always been a tough battle to win that Golden Boot and you expect the top strikers to want to play in the Premier League.
“It shows with those two signings that’s going to be the case. It helps, it helps me as a player to have good competition and hopefully to improve and get better, so for sure, I look forward to the challenge.
“I try to focus on myself to begin with. Going into any season, I have things I want to achieve and goals I want to reach and I try not to focus on other players too much in that aspect of things.”
