They really are the four words no England fan wants to hear ahead of Euro 2024: Harry Kane is injured.
But Thomas Tuchel confirmed the England captain will miss Bayern Munich’s final game of the Bundesliga season against Hoffenheim due to a back problem.
With Gareth Southgate announcing his provisional Euros squad on Tuesday and the start of the tournament less than a month away, this is a real concern for everyone connected to England.
Here’s what we know about Kane’s injury so far and how England could line up without him in Germany this summer.
What we know about Harry Kane’s injury so far
Kane missed Bayern’s final game of the season – a 4-2 defeat to Hoffenheim – with an ongoing back complaint.
Before the game, Tuchel said: “Harry is receiving treatment with his personal doctor – he’s no longer here and won’t travel to Hoffenheim.
“It was really a borderline decision in Madrid. We tried it with treatment and it got worse with every move that he made, so there was no chance for him participating in practice.”
Kane has not played since the 2-1 Champions League defeat to Real Madrid on 8 May and was not included in the squad for either of Bayern’s final two Bundesliga games.
This means his back problem has lasted at least 10 days already, with the news it is exacerbated by exercise not a positive one for Southgate.
Back injuries can massively vary in severity, from muscle tweaks to stress fractures and slipped disks.
We are unlikely to have a firm timeframe for his injury and any potential absence until he has been properly assessed by the personal doctor he has returned to England to see.
Will Harry Kane be fit for Euro 2024?
Unless it transpires Kane is carrying an incredibly serious injury in the next 48 hours, he will certainly be included in Southgate’s preliminary training squad, to be announced next Tuesday.
Uefa’s deadline to confirm the final 26-man squad is not until Friday 7 June, which gives Kane another three weeks to recover in time to travel to Germany.
Alongside this, a lot of back injuries are manageable with muscle injections and painkillers, which may allow him to get through much of the tournament even if not at 100 per cent fitness.
How England could line up without Harry Kane at Euro 2024
It’s not something any England fan particularly wants to think about, but there has to be some sort of plan if Kane is to miss even one game of the Euros.
The most obvious way of replacing him would be a like-for-like, using Ollie Watkins or Ivan Toney in the No 9 spot.
Watkins is a different type of striker to Kane but has 19 Premier League goals and 13 assists this season. His ability to run the channels would also be hugely helpful in creating space for Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham to operate in, something Kane does not naturally excel at.
Another possibility would be playing without a striker altogether and asking Bellingham to reprise the false nine role he has executed so successfully at Real Madrid this season.
Currently the joint-second top scorer in La Liga, Bellingham has helped take Madrid to the league title and Champions League final flanked by Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo.
Using Foden or Anthony Gordon from the left and Bukayo Saka from the right, Southgate could attempt to recreate this system with England.
But this may well expose the lack of midfield depth, with Declan Rice the only guaranteed starter in central midfield as it stands.
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