How Harry Kane compares to Manchester Utd, Barcelona and Real Madrid top goalscorers

Harry Kane has become Tottenham's all-time leading goalscorer
Harry Kane has become Tottenham's all-time leading goalscorer / Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit

The summit of Tottenham's goal-scoring charts had seemed like Harry Kane's destiny for some time.

The Spurs star bagged his record-breaking 267th goal for his club against Manchester City on February 5, earning himself a huge slice of history in the process.

Wayne Rooney for England, Jimmy Greaves for Spurs, and even Alan Shearer's seemingly unbeatable Premier League achievement - did any of them really ever stand a chance? Well, it's still a little too early to comment on the latter, but Greaves' long-standing achievement for the north London club has now fallen.

It's certainly some feat to become the leading goalscorer of a club with the stature of Tottenham. However, how does he compare to the leading marksman of Europe's biggest clubs?


Manchester United leading goalscorer

Wayne Rooney, Sir Bobby Charlton
Wayne Rooney bettered Bobby Charlton's goal-scoring record for Manchester United / Laurence Griffiths/GettyImages

Kane, who has been linked with Manchester United, has scored more goals for Spurs than Rooney did for Manchester United.

Rooney overtook Bobby Charlton as the Red Devils' all-time top goalscorer in 2017 and went on to reach 253 strikes in his 559 appearances for the club.

Kane might have already taken the now-DC United gaffer's international record but, should a move to Old Trafford ever materialise for Kane, he'd do miraculously well to knock Rooney off that perch.


Barcelona leading goalscorer

TOPSHOT-FBL-ESP-LIGA-BARCELONA-CELTA
Lionel Messi whipped this celebration out a fair few times over his Barcelona career / PAU BARRENA/GettyImages

Despite his world-class quality, Kane can't do much to compare to Barcelona's all-time leading marksman. In fact, very, very few can.

La Blaugrana's most prolific ever player is, of course, Lionel Messi. Before his departure to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021, the Argentine racked up a goal-scoring tally nearly three times that of second-placed Cesar Rodriguez.

In his 778 appearances for the Camp Nou club, Messi hit the back of the net a sensational 672 times (to go with a decent 303 assists) - Kane has some way to go before matching that tally.


Real Madrid leading goalscorer

Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo scored more goals than he played matches for Real Madrid / Chris Brunskill Ltd/GettyImages

Matching Real Madrid's all-time top goalscorer represents a healthy task, too. The holder of that particular recrod is, of course, none other than Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese great spent nine years at the Santiago Bernabeu, during which time he picked up four of his five Ballon d'Or titles and hit supernatural goal-scoring form.

He played 438 times for Real Madrid, hitting the back of the net a whopping 450 times. How's that for a goal-per-game ratio?