The captain played through the pain barrier to help his country, but in the end he held them back and needs to step aside
When a new England manager arrives on the scene, long serving greats in their 30s better run for cover. Steve McLaren's first act as England coach was to drop David Beckham from his squad, shortly after the No.7, then aged 31, had stood down as captain following the disappointing 2006 World Cup.
Gareth Southgate left Wayne Rooney, also 31 at the time, out of his first ever game in charge against Slovenia. And now that Southgate is stepping down as Three Lions boss, whoever comes in next should arrange a meeting with Harry Kane and respectfully tell him his time with the national team is up.
Thank you for your service Harry, your leadership, your 66 goals and taking us to two finals. But it's time we went our separate ways before we tear each other apart.
GettyNever looked right
Kane's Euro 2024 story was a paradoxical tale of both selflessness and egotism at the same time. He had done everything to get fit for the tournament, ending his season with Bayern Munich once they had been knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid, and treated his back injury with his personal doctor rather than with the club.
Kane had played down the significance of that injury, as had England, whose official website described it as "a niggle". Kane had said he had ended his season a a "precaution" as there was "a big summer coming up so we didn't want to take any risks with it". He then played both warm-up games against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iceland before starting all seven of England's games at the tournament.
But he never looked right. He ended the summer as joint-top scorer with five other players, but his overall statistics told a very different story. He had a total of 18 shots, eight of which were blocked. Six of his attempts hit the target, with half of those resulting in goals. In the final against Spain, he had just one touch in the area, just as he had in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.
In fact, Kane has had fewer combined touches in European Championship finals than Jack Grealish, who played just 20 minutes against Italy and was left out of the squad this time around.
AdvertisementGettyCouldn't be dropped
But despite his diminishing powers, there was never any question that Kane would be dropped. He himself cannot be blamed for this, as which player wouldn't want to be involved as much as possible in a major tournament? It was up to Southgate to make that tough decision, but he never had the courage to do it. He did at least realise that Kane had to be withdrawn earlier and earlier.
The captain completed the whole opening match against Serbia but was taken off after 70 minutes against Denmark. He played another 90 minutes against Slovenia, but was replaced in extra-time against both Slovakia and Switzerland, even with penalties potentially being on the horizon.
Against the Netherlands he lasted 81 minutes, and in the final it was just 61. The fact he had picked up a booking for a late challenge on Fabian Ruiz in the first half may have hastened Southgate's decision to withdraw his captain, but it was plainly obvious that Kane was having no impact on the game. In fact, he was weighing England down.
Southgate's side were forced to play on the counter-attack against La Roja, having dominated possession in all their other matches. And when you counter-attack you need speedy players to run in behind on the break. Kane was incapable of doing so and it meant Spain were rarely worried when England took the ball off them and broke.
John Stones and Phil Foden each created openings in the first half, but Kane's lack of mobility meant they had no real passing opportunities. When Ollie Watkins eventually replaced Kane, he provided speed and purpose in attack, and it was no coincidence that England drew level 12 minutes later through Cole Palmer.
GettyLack of mobility
Kane's lack of mobility was a constant talking point in analysis of England's performances, but dropping him was seen as too big a move for Southgate to make; a seismic decision which would have sent shockwaves through the nation and unsettled the team. And that sums up the problem Kane has created. He was seen as undroppable, even though had anyone else been playing as badly as him and believed to be carrying an injury, they would have been straight out of the team.
“I'd be amazed if Harry wasn't carrying some form of injury and patching himself up to get out there," Gary Neville said on . "Whether it will come out or not now, I'm not sure, because they lost in the manner they did.
"Physically, he never looked like himself during the tournament and everyone could see that. It's not a technical or performance thing – this is England's best player ever in this position. It's more about his mobility around the pitch. There is no doubt he wasn't free and Gareth took him off relatively early.
"Gareth has a lot of experience managing at these tournaments, but Kane's performances were nowhere near the standards he's set. If it does emerge he was patching himself up, then there might be further questions about why he was picked. It does feel like he was carrying something to me."
Getty Infuriating deference
Southgate's deference to him was infuriating, especially considering the manager had recently shed his previous image of showing undue loyalty to long-serving players. He logically concluded that Grealish, Jordan Henderson, Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford were not right for the tournament, so why couldn't he see that Kane had to be taken out of the team after underperforming time and time again?
Southgate's long working relationship with Kane must have been a big factor in why he was so reluctant to drop him from his line-up or take him off earlier in matches. Southgate has known Kane for more than a decade, first picking him when he was in charge of the England Under-21 side in 2014.
As soon as the final whistle had gone and England's tournament had come to a familiarly painful ending, Southgate started rolling out the excuses about Kane's fitness issues. “Physically it has been tough for him. He came into the tournament short on games and has not quite reached the level we all would have hoped," the coach told .
The manager then effectively admitted that he had kept Kane in the team for so long for reasons of morale and leadership. He added: “He has led the team really well. We have lost a lot of leadership with the injuries to [Jordan] Henderson and [Harry] Maguire, so a lot has fallen on his shoulders.”
Kane's team-mates had pointed to his leadership qualities before the semi-final when his performances were being criticised. “When he’s on the pitch he makes other players feel positive,” Luke Shaw said. “I think we all feel very positive when he’s on the pitch, because he’s our leading goal-scorer. At any time he can score a goal and make that difference. He’s a very important player, he’s our captain."
