Paul Merson has called on Tottenham Hotspur hitman Harry Kane to rule himself out of England’s next World Cup outing.
The Three Lions have a massive round-of-16 encounter against Senegal tomorrow.
Somewhat surprisingly, Kane hasn’t scored any of the nine goals that Gareth Southgate’s side have scored in the competition.
He went off injured against Iran with a suspected ankle problem but still played against USA and Wales in the subsequent Group B outings.
Gary Neville claimed in midweek via HITC Sport that it was clear to him the Tottenham marksman was carrying a niggle of some description.
And Merson has told The Daily Star that it’s much better for England if Kane asks for 90 minutes off on Sunday to recover.
He said: “There is simply no chance Gareth Southgate’s side will win the tournament without Kane in the goals. But I just feel like with his fitness at the moment, he needs to sometimes consider saying: ‘You know what, I can’t play in this game.’
“You only have to look at Tottenham’s recent League Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest to realise Kane wants to play in every football match but now he doesn’t look 100% fit.”
You can see Merson’s point about the Spurs attacker and no doubt Southgate has considered it.
The danger is, how do you justify resting your best player for the quarter-finals when you may not even get there without him?
Despite not scoring, the Tottenham forward is still creating and set up all three goals in the win over Wales earlier this week.
He remains a vital player for England and it’ll be interesting to see what Southgate does.
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