Former Manchester United striker Eric Cantona has made a big claim about Newcastle United’s iconic forward Alan Shearer.
During Alan Shearer’s time at Newcastle United, the Magpies missed out on the Premier League title, ironically to Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
United did attempt to sign Shearer from Blackburn Rovers but the boyhood Newcastle fan chose to move to St James’ Park.
He became the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer during his time in the North East but failed to win a major trophy during his stint at the club.
Cantona on Shearer
Eric Cantona was a Premier League legend in his own right as the French forward captained the Red Devils to title glory before departing in 1997.
Speaking on the Rest Is Football podcast, Cantona was asked about his toughest opponent by Shearer and Cantona believed the Englishman could score a lot of goals if he was playing in the present day.
“Alan, nowadays we enjoy football it is nice and pretty but I remember the defenders we used to face in the 80s,” Cantona said.
“I remember defenders like Vinnie Jones and Tony Adams, they were tough to play against but you (Shearer) always scored a lot of goals.
“But if you (Shearer) were playing in the present day, I think you’d score 70-80 goals a season because the defenders are different.”
Shearer netted 260 Premier League goals during his superb career in English football and no forward has, as of yet, come close to breaking that record.
Kane could have broken Shearer’s record
Prior to his move to Bayern Munich last summer, Harry Kane was closing in on potentially breaking that record.
Since Kane burst onto the scene for Spurs towards the end of 2014, he has struck 206 times for the Lilywhites which puts him just 54 behind Shearer.
Wayne Rooney is in second place in the Premier League’s ranking but unless Kane fancies a return to the Premier League in the near future, Shearer’s record will be intact for a long time yet.
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