Harry Kane injury: Bayern striker leaving England camp early over fitness fears

The Three Lions captain sat out the loss to Brazil and will also play no part against Belgium next week
Mike Egerton/PA Wire
Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP23 March 2024

Harry Kane will return to Bayern Munich for treatment after Gareth Southgate confirmed the England captain would not be fit for next week's friendly against Belgium.

Kane reported to St. George's Park on Tuesday with an ankle injury sustained for his club and sat out Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Brazil at Wembley, with Ollie Watkins deputising at centre-forward.

Asked after the game for the latest on Kane, who has been unable to train with the rest of the England squad this week, Southgate said: "He'll go back [to Bayern]. He won't be fit for Tuesday."

Without Kane, Southgate's side looked short of firepower against the five-time world champions and 17-year-old substitute Endrick condemned England to a first defeat at Wembley in 21 matches with a late winner.

The FA via Getty Images

"We were playing a top team, chances are going to be limited," added Southgate, when asked about his side's lack of thrust. "We had the chances from set pieces and capitalising from one of them often makes the difference. I was really pleased with the players who went in.

"We need to know where we might head without Harry for a big match. Ollie did a good job, didn't get a clear chance of goal he might want as a forward but a lot of his work was really good.

"I was pleased [with the performance], clearly I don't like losing football matches but I thought there were lots of very good individual performances from players who have hardly played for England. The more regular players were very good.

"With 15 minutes to go, we're thinking we’ve managed to see a lot of new players, we've had more than our share of the game and had as many attempts on goal as they've had. The difference was one moment really and that's the ruthlessness of football at this level."

He's not had many injuries so he’s not sure if it's just tightness, I suspect if he's feeling it, it's a bit more than that.

Gareth Southgate on Kyle Walker injury

On Endrick’s goal, Southgate added: “We know he's a dangerous player and obviously he's managed to follow in for the goal. We should have defended the goal better than we did, he's capitalised and it's a brilliant moment for him."

Kyle Walker was forced off after 20 minutes after racing back to stop Vinicius Junior's shot near the goal-line, with Ezri Konsa coming on for his debut, and Southgate said the Manchester City right-back would be assessed before Tuesday.

"We don't know [the extent of it]," he said. "He's not had many injuries so he himself is not sure if it's just tightness, I suspect if he's feeling it, it's a bit more than that but we'll know more in the next 24 to 36 hours."

Jordan Henderson and Cole Palmer also sat out the game with knocks but Southgate expects the pair to return to full training ahead of the Belgium game.

"The two boys trained today so they've come through that OK, they should join the group to train tomorrow," he said.

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