Former Liverpool and Manchester United star Michael Owen has ranked his top five greatest England strikers of all time, and he's left out some huge names.

Arguably, no other country in the world produces strikers quite like the Three Lions. While England have endured one of the longest trophy droughts in international football, they've rarely struggled to find the back of the net.

Following Harry Kane's recent Ballon d'Or win, making him the first Englishman to win the award since Owen himself in 2001, the former striker has now ranked the Bayern Munich star alongside the likes of Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst.

Michael Owen Ranks England's 5 Best Strikers Ever - Snubs Shearer

5. Gary Lineker

"My idol as a kid," Owen admitted of Gary Lineker, who is one of football's nice guys, having never received a yellow card at all during his playing days before having a very successful media career in which he became Match of the Day's frontman.

"He was Mr Dependable for England in the big games at World Cups," he added, with Lineker having scored 10 goals in 12 World Cup games in total.

4. Sir Geoff Hurst

Geoff Hurst (1966) and Kylian Mbappe (2022), with the latter having also scored 2 penalties, are the only players to have scored a hat-trick in a World Cup final. He is the last surviving member of the only side to ever truly bring football home, and is also a West Ham legend.

Perhaps the only reason he may not feature higher in Owen's ranking is firstly due to the fact his era is lesser-known. But, secondly, he surprisingly only ever earnt 49 caps, scoring 24 goals.

3. Jimmy Greaves

Another legendary forward who Owen never got to watch in the flesh is Jimmy Greaves, but Owen's dad's stories about him was 'enough for me' to rank him third.

He is the Three Lions' fifth-highest international goalscorer with 44 goals, which includes an English record of six hat-tricks. Greaves is the highest goalscorer in the history of English top-flight football with 357 goals. He finished as the First Division's top scorer in six seasons, more times than any other player, and came third in the 1963 Ballon d'Or rankings.

2. Wayne Rooney

Previously number one in Owen's books, Wayne Rooney has been described as 'outrageously gifted' by his former teammate. It doesn't take rocket science to realise why, with 'Wazza' having consistently been his nation's best player year upon year since he was a teenager.

By the time he hung up his boots, he had scored a then-record 53 goals in 120 international caps, while having also won everything under the sun during his time as a Manchester United icon - including five Premier League titles and two Champions League titles.

1. Harry Kane

After winning the 2026 Ballon d'Or, Owen admitted that Harry Kane had proven him wrong to become the greatest England striker of all time. He is his nation's greatest goalscorer with a remarkable 91 goals in 125 caps, but he's so much more than just a talisman.

Many are quick to criticise the former Tottenham man for preferring to drop deep so that he gets involved in all areas of his side's play, but there's no denying just how great of an all-round footballer he is. He is right up there among the very best.