Southgate makes feelings on Kane's move to Bayern Munich clear
Gareth Southgate believes England can reap the rewards of Harry Kane’s £100million move to Bayern Munich.
Southgate feels that his captain will be driven by a desire to prove he can do the business in the Bundesliga with the countdown to next summer’s Euro finals in Germany now under way. Kane would have faced another year of uncertainty if he had opted to run down the final year of his contract at Tottenham - and Southgate is delighted that the 30-year-old can now concentrate on scoring goals with his future decided.
“I definitely think from a selfish England perspective that it’s good that Harry’s future’s settled now for the next few years,” said the Three Lions boss. "I think potentially that can be a distraction for players.
“But it’s also good for him that he’s now got to go and perform at a new club. He’s been at one club for so long. To have a change means you’ve got to impress new team-mates, new staff, new fans - and also there’s the life experience of having to adjust to a new country. I think there’s a lot of positives there.
“I’m sure for Harry’s own belief it would be brilliant if he could now win a trophy. I’m not sure that he’s going to become a better player but there might be other aspects of the mentality that this move will help him with. They’re probably the little bits that, as you get older, are the only things you can improve upon.”
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England can take another huge step towards qualifying for the Euros finals when they face Ukraine in the Polish city of Wroclaw on Saturday. Southgate’s team then meet old rivals Scotland at Hampden Park in a game to mark the 150th anniversary of their first meeting.
Kane has scored twice for Bayern (Corbis via Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Harry Kane get better at Bayern Munich? Comment below.
England now have a raft of players earning a living abroad after Ruben Loftus-Cheek joined Fikayo Tomori at AC Milan and Jordan Henderson accepted the fortune on offer in Saudi Arabia. Tammy Abraham and Chris Smalling are also in Serie A, with Roma - and Southgate has often questioned whether the lack of intensity in foreign leagues can be a problem.
But he has no such worries about Kane. Southgate said: “I think the Bundesliga is a bit different to some of the other leagues I have talked about. It’s a bit more transitional and there is an intensity to that.
“We’ll have all the data from training sessions and matches, so we’re able to track that really closely. I think the big difference for Harry this year will be that there’s going to be a lot of games where they’re very dominant and in the opposition third of the pitch. So I think there will be a lot more play for him in the penalty box that I suspect he’s had in the last couple of seasons.
“We have got a handful of players playing in Europe now. It’s not as many as other countries export but that is their own career decision really. If players get opportunities to go we might see one or two more go abroad. But we’re an island nation and we don’t always look outside of the island and have enthusiasm for travel so I also can understand why it might not be for some players.”
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