Sir Geoff Hurst says England’s midfielders must score more goals to help Harry Kane at the World Cup as 1966 hero reveals discussions with Declan Rice

Sir Geoff Hurst has warned England’s midfielders they need to help striker Harry Kane by scoring more goals.

The Three Lions have relied heavily on Kane’s goals which has put the Tottenham striker on the precipice of eclipsing Wayne Rooney’s all-time England record of 53.

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Kane needs just three more goals to overtake Rooney and few would bet against him reaching the feat at the 2022 World Cup.

But Hurst has highlighted his concern at the lack of goals coming from midfield and admits he has spoken to West Ham’s Declan Rice about it.

Hurst, who knows all about scoring goals at the World Cup through his hat-trick that helped England win in 1966, admitted the rest of the team must play their part and take the pressure off the England captain.

“What we certainly need to do if we don’t have anybody who can replace Harry up front – if he gets injured or substituted. I think we’ve got to find some more goals from other areas of the park,” former Hammer Hurst told talkSPORT.

“Certainly in the middle of the park, and I spoke with Declan Rice on this a couple of months ago.

“We need players who can nick a few goals and in our time we had three or four players who could score goals.”

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Hurst who takes centre stage in a brand new Sky documentary entitled Hurst: The First and Only, pointed to the prolific record of his former midfield teammates as a key factor in why England found success during his playing days.

He added: “Martin Peters – his record 57 games, 20 goals for England. Bobby Charlton – 100 games [for England], one [goal] in two [games] from midfield at international level.

“So I just think we need to not rely too much on Harry because if he gets injured, we need players not just up front who can replace him, but one or two goals from the middle of the park.”

Kane has scored ten of England’s last 24 goals in all competitions and his influence will be paramount as the Qatar World Cup kicks off later this month with all games live on talkSPORT.