Anthony Barry has stood on the training pitch with Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane. He has no doubt which of them strikes a football better.

“He’s the best ball striker I have ever worked with, all the great finishers I have ever worked with. Cristiano and all those players,” Barry told The Telegraph after England’s 7-0 win in Rijeka on Saturday.

Barry’s coaching path has taken him through Chelsea, Belgium, Portugal and Bayern Munich before his appointment to Thomas Tuchel’s England staff. His role under Roberto Martinez at Portugal placed him in national-team camps with Ronaldo; the subsequent move to Bayern put him on the same training pitch as Kane.

‘A level I have never experienced’

Barry says the verdict is not about honours or lifetime goal totals. It is about the mechanics of hitting a football cleanly, repeatedly, and with either foot.

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“What you see in the warm-up. The repetition of the ball striking, the clarity. It’s simply a level I have never experienced.”

Kane extended his England record to 89 goals with a double in Rijeka, as Tuchel’s side put seven past Croatia on 3 October in the Nations League. He now stands one appearance short of Peter Shilton’s England caps record of 125, with the chance to draw level when the Czech Republic visit Wembley on Tuesday.

‘Enjoy him while he’s in this vein’

Alongside the ball-striking, Barry picked out Kane’s temperament.

“For a player of such a high profile to have so low maintenance, so low ego and still perform on the highest level repetitively, we should all enjoy him while he’s in this vein.”

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