England Should Hope Harry Kane Is Missing For International Break

It’s not often an injury can overshadow a clash between the Bundesliga’s two main rivals for the title.

But when Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane collapsed on the floor against Bayer Leverkusen and began gesturing to the bench for treatment concerns over his well-being superseded events on the field.

In the aftermath, his coach Vincent Kompany played down concerns it would see him sidelined for the long term.

“I’m not a doctor, but I hope it’s nothing serious. It’s still early to say. Hopefully he’ll be fit for Wednesday[ night’s game versus Aston Villa],” Kompany told Sky Sports.

His sporting director Max Eberl was not as optimistic, he assessed that Kane’s injury “doesn’t look good.”

“If Harry goes off the pitch, then it’s something,” he added. “Now I hope he’s made of sturdy English wood.”

Kane’s blistering form this season has been one of the major positives for Bayern and the forward has 10 goals already to his name, as he leads the Bundesliga scoring charts.

But, given that there are only two fixtures before another international break, the chances are that Kane’s knock will impact the preparations for England interim boss Lee Carsley.

The national team faces Nations League matches against Greece and Finland in the next round of action.

Unafraid to make bold selection calls and summon up youngsters to the national team with little experience it’s unlikely Carsley will be phased by the country’s record goalscorer being unavailable.

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However, the uncomfortable truth is that really England needs to prepare itself for life without the influential forward in a more fundamental manner.

Life After Kane

Harry Kane might be the captain and leader of a group of players who’ve reached two finals and a semi in the past four tournaments, but there is no escaping the fact that by the time the next major competition rolls around he’ll be 33 years old.

As Robert Lewandoski and Cristiano Ronaldo have shown, age might not prevent a striker from playing at the highest level.

But the question England has to ask itself is whether building the team around a talisman in his thirties makes sense.

Kane for his part is unlikely to hang up his international boots any time soon as his posts on social media after the final defeat by Spain suggested: he’s going nowhere.

“Heartbroken we couldn't achieve what we worked so hard to,” Kane wrote on X.

“It was a long tough tournament and I'm so proud of the boys and staff for getting to the final. Ultimately we fell short of our target and will have to live with that.

“But as we always do we will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and be ready to fight again in an England shirt.

“Thank you to all the fans that believed in us and supported us to the very end!”

Doubts about Kane’s fitness have dogged him repeatedly for the past three competitions with England and few would argue he’s been on top form.

During the Euro 2024 run to the final, there were repeated calls for the former Tottenham Hotspur star to be dropped with critics suggesting his sluggish and clumsy displays were holding the team back.

It didn’t help Kane’s cause that the main alternative in the position, Ollie Watkins, had displayed exactly the type of clinical dynamism and willingness to run into the channels that his rival had lacked throughout the tournament when he replaced him.

But even those, like pundit Gary Neville, who didn’t believe it was the right decision to drop Kane had to fall back on his past achievements to justify the call.

“When you have to change your shape, or you do change your shape for an opponent, that’s quite a big move. He’s brave enough to do that, and he’s done it before,” he said ahead of the final clash.

“He’s not going to drop Harry Kane. Harry Kane’s one of his leaders, he’s one of the greatest England football players that we’ve ever had.

“There’s no doubt that he’s not been at his absolute best in this tournament but neither have the team. The service into him isn’t great.

“I’m not quite sure where this Harry Kane dropping deep sort of line comes from. I know where it comes from, it’s been there for five, six or seven years watching him play football. I don’t see any difference really in what he’s been doing recently in his football matches for his club.

“This idea that all of a sudden Harry Kane drops deep, it’s partly what I would expect him to do, just sort of stay high, in between those two center-backs, and then just drop in a little bit to try and sort of draw some of those center-backs in to allow the runners to go back in behind. That’s what he’s been doing for years.

“But in terms of the actual form, he doesn’t look himself, he doesn’t look as sharp when the ball’s played into him in and around the box. He doesn’t seem to be able to get his touch and his shot off like he ordinarily would do.”

The brutal reality is that England must start preparing for life without Kane as soon as possible.

If it is better for the fluidity of the team to phase out the nation's greatest goalscorer it should be done sooner.

While nobody wants to see Kane sidelined for an extensive period, an absence through injury for the next couple of games would enable Carsley the opportunity to experiment with what a Kane-less England might look like.