Thomas Tuchel has confirmed Harry Kane will miss England’s friendly against Wales on Thursday and revealed which three players are vying for the captain’s armband in his absence.
Kane is on fire for Bayern Munich this season, scoring 18 goals in just ten appearances across all competitions, taking his extraordinary tally for the Bundesliga giants to 103 goals in 106 games.
But the 32-year-old will sit out the clash at Wembley having suffered a knock in Bayern’s 3-0 win over Frankfurt.
“Harry will miss the game,” Tuchel revealed in his pre-match press conference. “He got a kick in his last game with Bayern Munich. It was too risky that he gets another kick and will be in an up and down situation pain wise. I think we are convinced he will be ready for the match against Latvia.”
The England boss was then asked about Kane’s 13th-placed finish in the Ballon d’Or, admitting he pays no great attention to the individual gong.
He added: “I never know when the Ballon d’Or is and what the ranking is. I’m the last person to see it and know it. I’m not the biggest fan of individual awards because I truly believe you can only win in football, the field is too big as a team player and he stands out in what he does. He should be higher than 13th for sure.”
Tuchel then revealed which three members of the squad are in line to lead the Three Lions out at Wembley.
“The options for captains will be one of Jordan Henderson, John Stones and Declan Rice,” he said.
“I love that John Stones is in camp. I saw how gutted he was last time when he had to leave. He is a deep thinker, intelligent and very sensitive. It is very good to have him, with Jordan, with Declan, they have an attitude what it takes to be a professional player and a team player.
“They have such a high standard, it is infectious and them being in camp means everyone plays to such a high level. It is why John is a top leader.”
On what he hopes to gain from the game, Tuchel added: “There was a huge chance we would have maybe started with the same squad if it was available. We find other solutions. We had only a very short period of time to prepare for the match.
“I believe it will be a difficult and complicated match against a well-coached team. This will be very complicated. We have enough time that we don’t need to pay too much attention on the lineup because we have four days in between, that should not be a problem.
“For me not a lot changed in the preparation of the match [with it being a friendly]. I don’t prepare the teams less, I don’t do less meetings or worse meetings.
“We just play against our own standards and the team set the standards in the last camp. The guys are so important because they never drop the standards.”