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Louis van Gaal claims Wayne Rooney is still ahead of Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy as England’s best striker.

Kane and Vardy pushed their claims in England’s last two friendlies to start ahead of Rooney at Euro 2016 and they are the Premier League’s two top scorers.

Kane has 22 league goals for Tottenham and Vardy 19 for Leicester, compared to Rooney’s tally of just seven for Manchester United.

However, Rooney has missed United’s last 11 games because of a knee injury and Van Gaal says the England skipper has proved he is the best.

Rooney is the Three Lions’ all-time leading scorer with 51 and needs just six more goals for United to break also Sir Bobby Charlton’s record as their top marksman.

“It always depends on their form,” said the United boss. “It is always like that.

(Image: Getty)

“Normally he is the best striker, but Harry Kane, how many has he scored? That also counts for a striker and also for Wayne. It also depends on your team are playing, so you cannot say so easily. But when you see Wayne’s record, he is the best striker.”

Van Gaal plans to give Rooney 60 minutes for the Under-21s on Monday to prove his fitness for the FA Cup replay against West Ham at Upton Park 48 hours later.

And he says the 30-year-old has already shown him in training that he has lost none of his magic because of his lay-off.

In pictures — Wayne Rooney's England goals... so far!

“I saw him training on Thursday, he scored a goal, he made a fantastic chip over the goalkeeper,” said the Dutchman. “It was his first training session and I said to him ‘I have never seen that this season’.

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“I think that Wayne is a player who is always doing his utmost best. He is the easiest player for a manager ­because he is always doing everything to continue.”

Kane has the chance to prove Van Gaal wrong on Sunday, when United visit White Hart Lane and the Dutchman cheekily pointed out the Spurs hot-shot has never scored in his four games against the Reds.

(Image: Man United/Getty)

“Kane is of course a very good striker, but he hasn’t scored yet against us!” he said. “I cannot remember that he scored. When I say that I am challenging him also, so it’s not so smart of me.”

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Van Gaal says United must win to maintain their Champions League push and he is buoyed by their impressive record against the top seven.

United have five wins and four draws from their nine games against the leading sides.

Flashback — United win the reverse fixture back on the opening day:

“It’s not so interesting for me, my record,” he said.

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“It’s more interesting for the players and they have to win this game at this moment.

"We still have to close the gap of one point to fourth place.”