Lineker refuses to accept Maguire’s Harry Kane claim in brutal four-word reply | Football | Sport

Gary Lineker made it clear that he disagrees with Harry Maguire’s assessment of Harry Kane’s mindset regarding the race to match the goalscoring records of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe at the World Cup. Kane has already netted twice following England’s 4-2 triumph over Croatia in their tournament opener.

The World Cup has witnessed some of the game’s greatest talents finding the net on a regular basis this summer. Messi has registered five goals for Argentina already, while Mbappe has struck four times for France so far, with Erling Haaland also matching that tally for Norway.

Kane will be eager to add to his account when England take on Ghana on Tuesday evening in their next Group L match, and the subject arose during the latest instalment of the Rest is Football on Netflix.

Lineker was accompanied by Maguire, who did not secure a place in the England squad for this summer’s World Cup, on Tuesday’s programme, with former Chelsea star Joe Cole also featuring on the latest episode.

Lineker posed the question to Maguire: “Messi, Haaland, Mbappe [goals] – Harry [Kane] will be watching that, won’t he?”

The Manchester United defender then offered his view, outlining why he believes Kane will not be preoccupied with emulating the aforementioned trio in getting his name on the scoresheet once more, despite the battle for the golden boot heating up.

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“He [Kane] will be watching it,” Maguire said. “But he’s not the type of player – he’s so humble – I don’t think he’s [thinking] ‘he’s scored, I’ve got to score’.

“I don’t think he’s one of those who focuses on other people. He’s such a team player.”

Cole then stepped in, joking that he felt Lineker held an altogether different view, saying: “Gary’s [Lineker] eyes are saying different, strikers’ union!”

Lineker wasted no time in making his own position crystal clear, with a brutal four-word reply. “I think that’s b*****ks,” he said before breaking into laughter.

Maguire stood his ground, elaborating on why he believes Kane approaches goalscoring with a fundamentally different mentality to the likes of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The United defender argued: “No, he’s [Kane] a team player, he would put the team first. He loves scoring goals, you don’t score that many goals without loving scoring goals.

“But I don’t think he’s too fussed around other players whereas, you know, Ronaldo, Messi: they’ve always been competing and things like that.”

Last week, Wayne Rooney provided insight into Ronaldo’s mentality after Messi scored a hat-trick ahead of Portugal’s first match. “He’ll have been raging,” said Rooney, sparking laughter in the BBC studio. “In a good way. That’s how he’s pushed himself, that’s his mentality. Everything is a challenge to him. Over the years, him and Messi have pushed each other to reach these levels.”

Ronaldo, however, drew a blank as Portugal were held to an underwhelming 1-1 draw with DR Congo.