Former England international Gary Neville has lavished praise on striker Harry Kane after his hat-trick in the World Cup on Sunday.
Kane scored two penalties and a deflection against Panama in the Three Lions’s second game of the group stages, as England beat the South American side 6-1 at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium.
The 24-year-old is the leading scorer at the World Cup with four goals in two games, and Neville has labelled Kane as “world class” at the tournament.
“His 2016 tournament was poor, his lead-up to this tournament was difficult between the injury, the goal that he claimed that brought a bit of pressure, but he is the most important player for England,” Neville told ITV.
“This is a top player, a world-class player – and we don’t have many. We’re always accused of getting carried away as England, but when we do have a player that I think every team in the tournament would want, we should get carried away; we should get carried away by him.
“We’re always managing expectations but this guy is the real thing, he’s the real deal.”
England will play Belgium in their final Group G fixture, but Gareth Southgate‘s side have already guaranteed qualification for the knockout stages.