Is Harry Kane match fit? England boss Gareth Southgate makes concerning admission about Bayern Munich striker ahead of final Euro 2024 group game

The England boss explained why he chose to replace Kane with Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins against Denmark with just over 20 minutes of play to go. He highlighted the lack of game time the Bayern Munich striker had in the build-up to the tournament after suffering a back injury towards the end of the 2023-24 season.

"We felt with the three front players that they played the bulk of the game the other day and we needed to get some legs onto the pitch,” Southgate said.

“Harry’s only had one 90 minutes in five or six weeks. Given what the other game took out of us, given the heat against Denmark, we needed to press better towards the end of the game and it was always in our mind that all of the forward players might need freshening at that point.”

Kane scored England's only goal in the 1-1 draw with Denmark on Thursday. Despite the underwhelming result, the Three Lions currently sit at the top of Group C on four points after beating Serbia in their opening clash of the tournament in Germany.

Southgate's men will now look ahead to the final game of the group stage, as they prepare to take on Slovenia on Tuesday (June 25). Topping the group is not guaranteed at this point so the manager will need Kane firing on all cylinders if England are to secure the win.