English Harry Kane offers something different
4 min read
I read an article suggesting that Harry Kane should be called up by England and handed a cap against San Marino to stop him playing for the Republic of Ireland.
That rather devalues an England cap if you are dishing them out as preventative measures and seems to take no account of the fact that Harry Kane doesn't want to play for Ireland. He isn't pondering, as an article suggests, playing for Ireland, he only ruled it out a month ago.
Why would he play for Ireland, he's not Irish but then leading World Cup scorer of all time, Miraslav Klose, isn't German but Polish with Polish parents. Farcical FIFA rules need to be tightened up, there are Brazilians playing fr all sorts of countries and I read an article that Qatar have signed up 18 'foreigners' to represent them at the World Cup that was and may now not take place in their country.
The Sun and a couple of websites suggest Martin O'|Neill wants to try and convince his parents that their son is Irish, as he has an Irish dad, when in fact it is through his grandparents he qualifies, not his parents. As far as Kane is concerned he is English, he currently plays for England Under 21's and has been scoring goals, 5 in 4 games. At all levels for England he has scored 14 goals in 24 games.
He confirmed to reporters only in August that he had no intention of suddenly discovering he had a burning desire to play for Ireland.
England Under 21 manager Gareth Southgate praised his qualities and his finishing ability after a recent European Championship qualifying game that Kane scored in shortly after coming off the bench.
I did have to laugh at the suggestion he may want to switch allegiances to gain more of a chance of playing at major tournaments. Ireland have qualified for the European Championships only twice, in 1998 and 2012, their World Cup record stands at 3 tournaments 1990, 1994 and 2002.
England have a very small pool of players regularly playing Premier League football to choose from and our players all tend to get overrated as a result. Harry Kane has an aerial ability that at the moment looks like being a rarity for an English player in a few years. Lambert is no spring chicken, Welbeck and Sturridge are ground players not aerial, leaving just Wayne Rooney.
As a player who could offer something different in the years to come his best chance of playing at major international tournaments is to stick with England and improve his game to a level where he forces the national manager to pick him.
There were only 68 players who started the Premier League last season qualified to play for England out of 220 players. As Paul Scholes said during the summer on his Paddy Power blog, the Premier League is riddled with average foreign players, simply because they command lower wages and lower transfer fees.
The Harry Kane's of this world need developing and Tim Sherwood can be applauded for giving youth a chance at Tottenham. Fans of course will moan when England do badly and then turn round and demand their club sign a big foreign name so they don't help the situation either.
Many Spurs fans have already dismissed Harry Kane which just demonstrates the problem, they don't want to develop players, they only want finished articles. It's one or the other I'm afraid and methods need to be found to encourage clubs to play young English talent before we shoot ourselves in the foot and it's too late.
That rather devalues an England cap if you are dishing them out as preventative measures and seems to take no account of the fact that Harry Kane doesn't want to play for Ireland. He isn't pondering, as an article suggests, playing for Ireland, he only ruled it out a month ago.
Why would he play for Ireland, he's not Irish but then leading World Cup scorer of all time, Miraslav Klose, isn't German but Polish with Polish parents. Farcical FIFA rules need to be tightened up, there are Brazilians playing fr all sorts of countries and I read an article that Qatar have signed up 18 'foreigners' to represent them at the World Cup that was and may now not take place in their country.
The Sun and a couple of websites suggest Martin O'|Neill wants to try and convince his parents that their son is Irish, as he has an Irish dad, when in fact it is through his grandparents he qualifies, not his parents. As far as Kane is concerned he is English, he currently plays for England Under 21's and has been scoring goals, 5 in 4 games. At all levels for England he has scored 14 goals in 24 games.
He confirmed to reporters only in August that he had no intention of suddenly discovering he had a burning desire to play for Ireland.
“There’s no decision there. Obviously I’m playing for England’s Under-21s at the minute and I want to break into that senior squad, but I’m just focused on what I’m doing at my club."
England Under 21 manager Gareth Southgate praised his qualities and his finishing ability after a recent European Championship qualifying game that Kane scored in shortly after coming off the bench.
I did have to laugh at the suggestion he may want to switch allegiances to gain more of a chance of playing at major tournaments. Ireland have qualified for the European Championships only twice, in 1998 and 2012, their World Cup record stands at 3 tournaments 1990, 1994 and 2002.
England have a very small pool of players regularly playing Premier League football to choose from and our players all tend to get overrated as a result. Harry Kane has an aerial ability that at the moment looks like being a rarity for an English player in a few years. Lambert is no spring chicken, Welbeck and Sturridge are ground players not aerial, leaving just Wayne Rooney.
As a player who could offer something different in the years to come his best chance of playing at major international tournaments is to stick with England and improve his game to a level where he forces the national manager to pick him.
There were only 68 players who started the Premier League last season qualified to play for England out of 220 players. As Paul Scholes said during the summer on his Paddy Power blog, the Premier League is riddled with average foreign players, simply because they command lower wages and lower transfer fees.
"Greg Dyke, the chairman of the Football Association, believes that proposed changes to the league system could help England win the World Cup in 2022.
"From what I've seen at this World Cup, we'll be lucky to qualify. I fear England are going the way of the Republic of Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
"England can take some positives. Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Ross Barkley, even though he didn't start the first two games, are a sign of the future - fast, intelligent footballers. But otherwise I'm struggling.
“Compared to La Liga and the Bundesliga, English players are not getting enough first-team time in the Premier League.
"We're going backwards from 1990 and the era of Paul Gascoigne and that conveyor belt of talent. Simply, the Premier League is riddled with average foreign players. This is having a detrimental effect on the opportunities for young English talent and our international results."
The Harry Kane's of this world need developing and Tim Sherwood can be applauded for giving youth a chance at Tottenham. Fans of course will moan when England do badly and then turn round and demand their club sign a big foreign name so they don't help the situation either.
Many Spurs fans have already dismissed Harry Kane which just demonstrates the problem, they don't want to develop players, they only want finished articles. It's one or the other I'm afraid and methods need to be found to encourage clubs to play young English talent before we shoot ourselves in the foot and it's too late.
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