Make Kane duty-free if he’s to get plane to Qatar
HARRY KANE should have been at home last night with his feet up.
Or in Dubai – or 1,001 other holiday hotspots – with his wife and kids, grabbing some sun.
Anywhere but being called up for international duty with England.
There was simply no point in Gareth Southgate adding to the 28-year-old striker’s workload by sticking his name down for another shift. What’s the Three Lions chief going to learn?
The fact that Kane’s passing now qualifies for the ‘world-class’ tag as well as his finishing?
No, the matter should have been taken out of the player’s hands and he should have been allowed a rest.
This isn’t a point just about burnout – but that is the main reason Kane should have been removed from the frontline.
Since the start of the 2021 campaign – only 19 months ago – the forward has played a staggering 112 times. So far this season, he’s played in 41 games for Spurs and another six for England. He’ll have broken his half-century by May 22, assuming he stays fit.
After a short break at the end of this season – one week at best – he faces seeing June wiped out because of the Nations League.
The next Premier League campaign gets under way on August 6. That means Tottenham’s pre-season training will kick off at the start of July.
Given the intensity with which Antonio Conte famously works, that won’t be a time for cappuccino and cakes, either.
Then, there are potentially another 24 games before the England squad gets together ahead of the World Cup. There’s just no time for the guy most likely to have the greatest effect on our chances to catch his breath.
And, yes, it’s not fair on boss Southgate that he should have to take Kane out of the action but Spurs as sure as hell won’t – not while a Champions League spot is still up for grabs.
So, England’s boss needs to look at the bigger picture here. What is the Plan B if Kane does pick up an injury which forces him out of the tournament in Qatar later this year?
If England have designs on winning the tournament, who exactly is going to fill the void?
The country went into the tournaments in 2002 and 2006 with legitimate concerns over the fitness of David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, our most influential players.
What is our back-up? Tammy Abraham appears to be in a good vein of form at Roma but he’s injured. Dominic Calvert-lewin has – along with his pals at Everton – hit a brick wall.
Ollie Watkins at Aston Villa has been given the nod as a reinforcement. Decent player, Ollie. But can you see us winning the World Cup with him as the spearhead? Necessity is the mother of invention. Southgate might have used Manchester City flyer Raheem Sterling up there in a withdrawn role.
He might even have turned to Brentford’s Ivan Toney, who is the next England-qualified player in the goalscoring charts. At least we would be guaranteed one success from the penalty spot.
Kane himself doesn’t need the goals. He’s going to overtake Wayne Rooney as the best goalscorer the country’s ever seen. It’s just a matter of time. But we need him as fit as possible when it matters.
England’s skipper was on his knees in the World Cup semi-final against Croatia in Russia. He was running on empty against Scotland – and, arguably, in the final against Italy, too.
This was a missed opportunity. Let’s hope the Three Lions don’t live to regret it.