Jimmy Greaves, the greatest English Goalscorer to ever step foot in the field has passed away at his home in the early hours of Sunday at the age of 81.
The news was made official via his Twitter handle:
James Peter Greaves MBE (20 February 1940 – 19 September 2021) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. He is England’s fourth highest international goalscorer (44 goals), Tottenham Hotspur‘s highest ever goalscorer, the highest goalscorer in the history of English top-flight football (357 goals), and also scored more hat-tricks (six) for England than anyone else. He finished as the First Division‘s top scorer in six seasons. He is also a member of the English Football Hall of Fame.
Greaves began his professional career with Chelsea Football Club in 1957 and scored against the Spurs. He also played in the following year’s FA Youth Cup final. Jimmy then scored 132 goals in 169 matches while being in the club between 1957-1961. He then moved to A.C. Milan for £80,000 in April 1961 for a brief period of time where he struggled to settle there but it was joining Tottenham that made a major impact on his career, scoring a hat-trick on his debut against Blackpool. He was just 21 years old, where he went on to score 266 goals in 379 matches and became the Spurs All-Time Record Goalscorer. He has helped win the World Cup twice in 1963 & 1967.
Greaves played his final game for England in May 1967 and remains the country’s fourth all-time record goalscorer, behind Gary Lineker, Sir Bobby Charlton, and Wayne Rooney.
