Harry Kane delighted England have selection ‘headache’ thanks to striking talent

Kane is ready to lead his country into the upcoming Nations League games against Greece and Finland.

Jonathan Veal
Thursday 03 October 2024 13:24 BST
Harry Kane is relishing England’s abundance of attacking talent (Mike Egerton/PA)
Harry Kane is relishing England’s abundance of attacking talent (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Wire)

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England captain Harry Kane says the abundance of attacking talent in the national squad is making his life a dream.

Kane is ready to lead his country into the upcoming Nations League games against Greece and Finland after overcoming an ankle injury to feature for Bayern Munich in their Champions League defeat at Aston Villa on Wednesday.

The 31-year-old took his tally to 68 England goals in the last international break and with the likes of Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish, Eberechi Eze, Anthony Gordon and others like Morgan Gibbs-White coming through, plenty more goals are on the horizon.

“We have a lot of competition for places, especially in that area,” he said. “From a striker’s point of view it’s great to see and great to see those boys playing really well and that’s what you want, to give the manager a headache.

“I think we’ve got some great talent in the country playing at a really high level in big games and in big moments.

“It’s always interesting to see who is there but from an England point of view it’s great to see everyone doing well.”

Kane played 90 minutes at Villa Park as Bayern lost a non-knockout Champions League game for the first time in 43 matches.

He was denied by Emiliano Martinez at the death with a header from a corner as Villa enjoyed a famous night.

Villa boss Unai Emery produced a tactical masterclass and Kane says Bayern have to adapt to how teams will set up against them.

“I’m disappointed but one we will have to learn from because I think there’s going to be a lot of games this season with teams who drop off and try and play on the counter and make it difficult,” he said.

“We will have to get used to that style of game.

“If teams want to try and go man for man with us it’s going to be really difficult for them so they’ll be dropping off and playing on the counter so when they do that we need to be more creative in that final third.

“But saying that we had moments and chances we could have done better with and it’s one of those games where if we break the deadlock early it opens it right up.

“You have nights like that, you have games like that, and the important thing from our point of view is not to panic.

“We’ve had a really good start to the season, we’re playing a really good style of football and as always, as the coach would say, there’s areas to improve and we know that.”

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