Harry Kane fit for Euro after back injury, says England boss Gareth Southgate

LONDON – England captain Harry Kane has recovered from a back injury and is looking forward to the upcoming European Championship this summer, manager Gareth Southgate said on May 21.

The Bayern Munich striker missed his side’s final two German Bundesliga games with back issues he has been dealing with since before their Champions League semi-final loss to Real Madrid earlier in May.

However, Southgate has included the 30-year-old in his provisional 33-man squad for the June 14-July 14 Euro 2024 tournament – an indication of how important a role Kane plays for the Three Lions.

“Kane is pretty much clear now, and he is quite relaxed about it. I think a sensible decision was taken not to push for the last game there (in Germany),” the England boss said.

“Back problems can just happen, but it is not something we are concerned about at this moment in time. Our understanding of it is that it is something that is pretty much clear now.”

Kane, who has never won a major trophy for club or country in his career, scored 44 goals in 45 appearances across all competitions in his first season at Bayern, including four hat-tricks in the Bundesliga.

Yet he was unable to help the German giants win a trophy, the first time the Bavarian side have failed to win silverware since 2012. Crucially, they missed out on the league title this season to Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen after dominating for 11 consecutive seasons.

“It won’t be nice for him and I am sure he will be aware of what people will say about that,” Southgate added.

“But he has delivered what we thought he would deliver in terms of goals in that league and I know the club are super happy with what he has done.

“His love for this challenge and desire to make this work have never wavered and he is definitely looking forward to this tournament (Euro 2024).”

England play two friendlies – against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 3 at St James’ Park and Iceland on June 7 at Wembley – before heading to the European Championship, where they are in Group C with Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia.

The tournament in Germany will be Southgate’s fourth in charge – he led the Three Lions to a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and the quarter-finals in 2022, and to the final of Euro 2020 at Wembley in 2021, when they lost to Italy in a penalty shoot-out.

“The reality of that is we focus totally on this tournament. We hope we can take everybody on another brilliant journey, and the ambition has been to win a tournament,” said Southgate, who has been linked with Manchester United.

“So, there’s nothing for us to consider until we’ve done that. And if we can do that, maybe I’ll retire and do nothing.” REUTERS