Harry Kane has doubled down on his criticism of the players who withdrew from this month’s England squad, warning they risk destroying the sense of unity built during Gareth Southgate’s tenure.
Eight members of Lee Carsley’s initial squad withdrew through injury, while replacement call-up Jarrad Branthwaite also dropped out, prompting captain Kane to question why players were putting “club ahead of country”.
Many fans have criticised Kane’s stance, with several also taking aim at FIFA for allowing a third international break so soon into the club season, but the Bayern Munich striker refused to apologise for his feelings.
“I think I gave my opinion on the matter,” he explained ahead of Sunday’s meeting with the Republic of Ireland. “I think I probably didn’t expect it to get as much coverage as it did.
“But it was my opinion, just my opinion that England is really important. After a major championship like in the summer, sometimes these September, October and November camps get forgotten a little bit, in terms of how important they are.
“If we win against Ireland it sets us up really well for the year ahead to the World Cup. These are the camps where you build that culture and togetherness that lead you into a World Cup. So it was just a reminder that playing for England is really special.”
He continued: “[The positive culture] takes a long time to build, and maybe not so long to lose if you’re not careful. But I think we’re well aware of that, the experienced players. We have a really open relationship here as players.
“I know it got portrayed as digging out the players, but that wasn’t what I was trying to say. It was just the fact that this isn’t a thing that we want to see regularly, and it hasn’t been the case in recent years under Gareth and that is a really important part of why the team have done really well.”
