NEIL MOXLEY Kane not Wayne as England skipper
Two glorious examples of sport reaching par ts others can’t reach. Barcelona in all their Champions League glor y. And David Haye – making more of a name for himself in defeat than he did as a champion. Proof – if ever it were needed – of its enduring maj
Follow us on Twitter: @peoplesport GARETH SOUTHGATE will announce his first England squad in a week’s time. And, with it, his first captain. The wise money would go on Wayne Rooney keeping his place in Southgate’s squad – and the captain’s armband.
But, while it i s undeniable Manchester United and England’s top goalscorer has little left to prove, the smart move would surely be for England’s newly-installed head coach to look elsewhere.
The writing is on the wall. In white and red letters 10ft high.
Rooney is the past. And Southgate must look to the future.
Energy
By whatever yardstick you use, the striker’s days look numbered.
Plenty has changed since Southgate was appointed to the job in November.
But one thing which hasn’t is the Liverpool-born striker’s decline.
In 26 games that his club has played since then, Rooney has featured in 15, and he has only scored twice.
In just three matches – against West Ham United in the League Cup along with Reading and Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup – has Rooney played the full 90 minutes. Mourinho has not trusted the 31-year-old to complete one Premier League game.
And this season he has collected more yellow cards – seven – than he has goals – five.
For some reason – surprisingly, given his relatively young age – Rooney has lost the intensity in his game.
The desire appears intact. His ability with the ball won’t fade. But it is increasingly difficult for Southgate to justify tossing the armband to Rooney when he is playing so few matches.
Of course, in that case, should Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson step up?
To me, Henderson is not cast in the mould of a natural leader. And is his position in the team absolutely guaranteed?
Would he be the first name down on the team sheet?
The same could be said about another long-term candidate, Joe Hart. He is out of Pep Guardiola’s sight – and ours – now during his spell at Torino.
Legendary Italian keeper Dino Zoff lifted a World Cup in ’82 and Peter Shilton was also made England’s skipper.
But successful leaders are more generally outfield players, who can more easily influence events around the pitch.
If Southgate wants to look to the future instead of clinging on to the past, then he could do worse than use the opportunity to promote his own man.
And, to my mind, the outstanding candidate is Harry Kane.
One glance at England’s starting line- up for their last competitive international against Scotland shows a lack of genuine leaders.
It stretches the imagination to think Nathaniel Clyne should be at the head of the pack. Or Danny Rose. Or Adam Lallana. Dele Alli is way too young.
Kane has scored 32 times for club and country in the past two completed seasons. He is looking for strike No.25 of this campaign against Millwall today. Southgate should build his team around the 23- year- old. England’s coach signed a four-year contract and, as part of that, he’s going to get the striker in the prime of his career.
To that end, there should be no talk of Daniel Sturridge, who is simply too flaky, or Jamie Vardy being given the nod ahead of Kane.
It helps too that Spurs’ talisman has four team-mates in Kyle Walker, Eric Dier, Rose and Alli from White Hart Lane who should carry the country forward and offer their new leader support. No one has yet found any skeletons in Kane’s closet, either.
He doesn’t have David Beckham’s poster-boy good looks.
But, otherwise, he is t he “Goldenballs” of this generation.
And if Southgate really wants to make his mark on this England set-up, he should avoid the awkward windingdown of Rooney’s captaincy. PHILIP NEVILLE. Lovely chap. But what kind of sheltered life has he led? Shortly after his retirement, he revealed he’d never made a cup of tea before offering to do so for a journalist interviewing him. This week – at 40 – he travels on the Tube for the first time. Next week’s exclusive, “Phil makes a piece of toast”. The week after, “Phil changes a lightbulb”. Come on, Phil, seriously...? THINGS we WILL miss when Arsene Wenger leaves Arsenal:
His conviction in how football should be played, his willingness to promote youth and the fact he fronts up after any performance. Things we WON’T miss:
His lack of grace every time Arsenal stumble.
No one expects any manager to enter a press conference bouncing happily on to the podium, but Wenger is a sore loser. And don’t we know it.
Even this week – and, yes, the failure to give an offside against Robert Lewandowski played a huge part in it – he turned on the match officials for their mistake in Bayern Munich’s 10-2 aggregate victory.
Unlike Paris Saint-Germain, there was never any danger of Bayern collapsing. None at all. Yet still the referee and his pals copped it.
Have you noticed, it’s always someone else’s fault?