Pablo Luna
There’s been an awful lot of speculation surrounding Harry Kane’s future, or lack thereof, at Tottenham Hotspur. The England captain has apparently made it clear that he would like to leave the club this summer in search of silverware, but with three years remaining on his contract, and chairman Daniel Levy reportedly unwilling to listen to offers under £120 million, forcing a move away from Spurs may prove difficult for Kane.
While the striker has every right to want to play for a club competing for the game’s top honours, the saga could prove to be an unfortunate undertone to England’s upcoming European Championships campaign. As captain, the most intense scrutiny is already likely to be heaped on Kane’s shoulders, but if transfer dealings are ruminating in the background this summer, then it will be a challenge for the 28-year-old to focus on football solely.
England needs Kane at top form more than ever at this tournament. It’s the first time in a long time that the team head to a major international competition as one of the genuine contenders to win it, and with home advantage in the form of matches at Wembley Stadium on their side, then there’s every chance that Gareth Southgate’s side could enjoy a deep run.
But, as with any team, the form of their captain and star striker will have a major say in how far England go. Kane was in rip-roaring form at the 2018 World Cup, notching six goals en route to the semi-finals, but it will be interesting to see whether the transfer rumours surrounding him affect the other members of the squad, particularly the Tottenham Hotspur players.
There is rarely an England major tournament campaign without some kind of controversy, and while Kane is the last player you’d expect to cause a fuss deliberately, his pushing for a move away from Tottenham could lead to friction in the England camp and, more importantly, distracting the player himself from the job at hand.
Kane finds himself as the favourite for the Euro 2020 top goalscorer odds, and his performances over the last couple of seasons for Tottenham have been outstanding, particularly when you consider how much the team has struggled in a turbulent period. Kane’s only football away from Tottenham in his career came in a series of loan spells during his younger years, so the decision to leave would be a significant one, and you can understand if his concentration wasn’t fully on England this summer.
But then, few players have ever demonstrated as much composure and level-headedness as Kane. He is a player who very rarely lets his emotions get the better of him, and throughout his career, he has shown an innate ability to perform at a consistently high level, even in the face of off-field struggles at Tottenham or his own personal battles with injuries.
If his future is not resolved before the European Championships, then the tournament will be Kane’s biggest test yet of demonstrating such composure in uncertain circumstances. England needs their captain and talisman in fifth gear if they are to have any chance of picking up the nation’s first major international trophy since 1966. Plenty of England strikers have wilted under pressure like that before, Kane must prove he has the strength of character to avoid that.
