Harry Kane: Is the ‘modest’ striker an undervalued England star?

He was England’s top scorer when they reached the final of the postponed Euro 2020 with four goals in seven games, although the 2022 World Cup ended in disappointment as Kane missed a penalty in a 2-1 defeat to France in the quarter-finals in Qatar.

Kane, by his own standards, had a disappointing performance at Euro 2024, looking very tired and there was much clamor to replace the England captain with Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins.

He was substituted in every one of England’s knockout matches, including after just 61 minutes of the final loss to Spain in Berlin – yet he finished the tournament as joint top scorer with three goals in seven matches.

Kane is England’s top scorer in major tournaments, with 15 goals in 29 matches. This total puts him in fifth place, in the combined European Championship and World Cup goal standings, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and the German trio of Miroslav Klose, Gerd Muller and Jurgen Klinsmann.

Was his stellar contribution not appreciated?

“Anyone who played with him or against him raved about him,” Sutton says.

“If people don’t give him the credit he deserves, it might be because he’s been the main man in England for so long. Sometimes people are there to tear you down.

“England players are judged at major tournaments, and if they don’t win them, the criticism comes, and the senior captain is usually first in that line of fire.

“You can have rivalries, clans and social media, and there will be people jumping in, but you won’t find anyone who has played the game to a reasonable level who has any doubts about him. I think most fair-minded supporters understand what a player Harry Kane is.”

Sutton added: “He’s never been blessed with great pace but the way his mind works is fantastic. He’s not just an exceptional goalscorer. He has the ability to drop deep to impact games, showing great awareness, passing weight and vision.”

“The phrase ‘you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’ comes to Harry’s mind,” says former England defender Matthew Upson, who played against Kane and watches him regularly as a pundit on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“I also think what plays into it is Kane’s profile. For the scale of what he does, I think he keeps his profile very low.

He added: “He is completely underappreciated in the way he works, being the character he is in world football.

“Other players are putting up numbers that aren’t quite as good as him, but you see them doing a song and dance about what they’re doing more than he does.”