Roy Hodgson thinks Wayne Rooney has had to battle harder than Sir Bobby Charlton did to rack up almost 50 goals for England.
After scoring twice on his 101st appearance for England last November, Rooney stands just three short of Charlton's 49-goal England record. The captain could surpass the former Manchester United favourite over the next fortnight in England's double-header against Lithuania and Italy.
Although Charlton took 87 matches to reach Rooney's current tally of 46, Hodgson believes the calibre of opposition England face today is currently tougher than when Charlton represented his country from 1958 to 1970.
For that reason, Hodgson believes his captain should receive extra credit when he jumps ahead of Charlton.
"It would be very easy for me to talk about players from the 1950s; how great they are and how much better they are," the England manager said. "But the reason I never do it and hopefully I never will is because I realise how the game has moved forward. Fifty goals today is in my opinion harder than 50 goals in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
"In the past for a fixture like England-Estonia or England-Lithuania or England-Latvia you would be talking 5-10 goals [to England] probably. The way these teams play now it's hard to get one. They are so well organised and cramped up.
"Wayne has got those goals in a highly competitive situation and he needs to be very proud of that."
The statistics seem to back up Hodgson's point. Charlton recorded four hat-tricks in his England career -- all of them in emphatic wins. The first came in England's 8-1 win over the United States in 1959, one year later he bagged another in a 9-0 annihilation of Luxembourg and three more goals came in the 8-0 win over Mexico in 1961. His final triple strike came three years before England lifted the World Cup in an 8-1 win at St Jakob-Park in Basle, Switzerland.
When England visited that very stadium six months ago, they were hailed for recording a 2-0 victory. The only time England have scored more than six goals during Rooney's England career was two years ago when Hodgson's team beat San Marino 8-0. England scored eight or more goals on seven occasions during Charlton's career.
As always, when it comes to comparing players from different generations, statistics are open to interpretation. Maybe Charlton would have scored even more goals if he had played with the lightweight balls on pristine pitches.
Maybe Rooney would have broken the 50-goal barrier had he played alongside Martin Peters, Roger Hunt and Sir Geoff Hurst.
Hodgson does not think Charlton's achievements should be underestimated, though.
"Having said that, Bobby Charlton is and always will be regarded as the best or one of the best we have produced because he didn't just score goals, he did many other things as well," the England manager said. "He was an outstanding Manchester United player and Wayne will get extra pleasure knowing that he has got closer to the legend which is Bobby Charlton.
"And of course what Bobby Charlton has got that no English player of the current generation has got is a World Cup winner's medal."
Another man who could reach an England landmark over the next fortnight is Joe Hart.
If Hart plays the Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley on Friday and in Turin four days later, he will become the sixth goalkeeper to earn 50 England caps.
Hodgson sees no reason why the 27-year-old Manchester City stopper cannot surpass Peter Shilton's record of 125 caps.
"I think it probably is realistic, but I doubt Joe is thinking too much about that," Hodgson said. "The first thing is that he should be happy with this 50. Getting 50 caps is not something to sniff at.
"If he can push on from there and get 100 and join that group that I've been working with, even better still. But it will take time as there are only 10 matches a year unless you win tournaments."
Hodgson named just 24 players in his squad for the double-header when it was announced on Thursday. He will consider releasing players back to their clubs after the Lithuania game if necessary.
"We haven't had any discussions so far... but I'm not ruling out the possibility of that happening," he said.