Prior to Thursday's 2-1 victory over Italy, the two were equal on goals scored with 53 each, but Kane's penalty kick in the first half gave England the victory.
After the game, Rooney congratulated Kane on his record in a quick social media message; but, he has since provided a longer homage to the 29-year-old.
"Harry Kane was the first player to rush over and join me in my celebration after I surpassed the record for most goals scored by an English player against Switzerland in September 2015. Later, when I spoke in the dressing room, I brought up Harry "Rooney contributed to The Times.
I expressed my optimism that the team's young players will be able to match my record and possibly even surpass it. At that point, Harry had only scored three goals for England, but I still said those things because I felt he could. Even then, with only four caps to his name, I was aware that if he kept playing the way he was, he could surpass Bobby Moore as England's all-time leading scorer. I wanted to encourage him.
"Now that he has accomplished it, having scored his 54th England goal against Italy on Thursday night, I am thrilled for him, for his family, and for the England team. Knowing Harry, he won't let it affect him negatively. He will continue, and in fact, I think that when he retires, he will have left the England record in a position that will make it very challenging for someone else to surpass it.
"He has what it takes to achieve his ambition of being as successful as Poland's Robert Lewandowski, a goal-scoring machine who is still at the top of his game in his mid-thirties. Harry will likely finish with a goal total for England that is well into the seventies."
Kane was afterwards hailed as England's greatest ever striker by Rooney, who also compared the Spurs hitman to the late Francesco Totti of Italy.
"How does he compare to other English strikers? Probably the best is him. I believe he is, Rooney said. If you compare Harry to the great England strikers, such as Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, Jimmy Greaves, and Michael Owen, he is just as good a scorer and just as relentless, but unlike them, he is not only a finisher. I was more of a player who was halfway between a No 9 and a No 10.
"His all-around football prowess makes him the best, and that applies to both his club and national team performances. If he stays healthy, he will surpass Shearer's Premier League goals total.
How do I feel about no longer holding the record? Ok, no problem. Given all the brilliant forwards England had, I don't really care about records and find it absurd that, before I broke it, the country's scoring record had stood for such a long time. I anticipated this day and knew Harry would be the one.
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