Former England striker Greaves dies aged 81

Jimmy Greaves, one of England’s most prolific strikers, has died at the age of 81, Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur said on Sunday.

Greaves, who suffered a stroke six years ago, started his career with Chelsea and scored a then club-record 124 league goals for the London club between 1957 and 1961.

He is Tottenham’s record goal scorer with 266 goals, having played for them from 1961-1970. His 37 league goals in the 1962-63 season remains a club record.

Greaves was part of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning squad and scored 44 goals in 57 internationals, making him the country’s fourth-highest scorer behind Wayne Rooney, Bobby Charlton and Gary Lineker.

Tottenham said in a statement that Greaves, who also had a short spell with Italian club AC Milan, died at his home in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Greaves scored for Tottenham in the 1962 FA Cup final as they retained the trophy and he netted twice in the European Cup Winners’ Cup final victory in 1963. He won another FA Cup with Spurs in 1967.

Greaves’s record of 357 goals in the English top flight remains unsurpassed fifty years since he retired as a professional in 1971.