Harry Kane's England career needs to end: All-time top scorer's undroppable status weighed Three Lions down at Euro 2024 - but lack of alternatives is a massive concern

Kane's Euro 2024 story was a paradoxical tale of both selflessness and egotism at the same time. He had done everything to get fit for the tournament, ending his season with Bayern Munich once they had been knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid, and treated his back injury with his personal doctor rather than with the club.

Kane had played down the significance of that injury, as had England, whose official website described it as "a niggle". Kane had said he had ended his season a a "precaution" as there was "a big summer coming up so we didn't want to take any risks with it". He then played both warm-up games against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iceland before starting all seven of England's games at the tournament.

But he never looked right. He ended the summer as joint-top scorer with five other players, but his overall statistics told a very different story. He had a total of 18 shots, eight of which were blocked. Six of his attempts hit the target, with half of those resulting in goals. In the final against Spain, he had just one touch in the area, just as he had in the Euro 2020 final against Italy.

In fact, Kane has had fewer combined touches in European Championship finals than Jack Grealish, who played just 20 minutes against Italy and was left out of the squad this time around.

But despite his diminishing powers, there was never any question that Kane would be dropped. He himself cannot be blamed for this, as which player wouldn't want to be involved as much as possible in a major tournament? It was up to Southgate to make that tough decision, but he never had the courage to do it. He did at least realise that Kane had to be withdrawn earlier and earlier.

The captain completed the whole opening match against Serbia but was taken off after 70 minutes against Denmark. He played another 90 minutes against Slovenia, but was replaced in extra-time against both Slovakia and Switzerland, even with penalties potentially being on the horizon.

Against the Netherlands he lasted 81 minutes, and in the final it was just 61. The fact he had picked up a booking for a late challenge on Fabian Ruiz in the first half may have hastened Southgate's decision to withdraw his captain, but it was plainly obvious that Kane was having no impact on the game. In fact, he was weighing England down.

Southgate's side were forced to play on the counter-attack against La Roja, having dominated possession in all their other matches. And when you counter-attack you need speedy players to run in behind on the break. Kane was incapable of doing so and it meant Spain were rarely worried when England took the ball off them and broke.

John Stones and Phil Foden each created openings in the first half, but Kane's lack of mobility meant they had no real passing opportunities. When Ollie Watkins eventually replaced Kane, he provided speed and purpose in attack, and it was no coincidence that England drew level 12 minutes later through Cole Palmer.

Kane's lack of mobility was a constant talking point in analysis of England's performances, but dropping him was seen as too big a move for Southgate to make; a seismic decision which would have sent shockwaves through the nation and unsettled the team. And that sums up the problem Kane has created. He was seen as undroppable, even though had anyone else been playing as badly as him and believed to be carrying an injury, they would have been straight out of the team.

“I'd be amazed if Harry wasn't carrying some form of injury and patching himself up to get out there," Gary Neville said on Sky Sports News. "Whether it will come out or not now, I'm not sure, because they lost in the manner they did.

"Physically, he never looked like himself during the tournament and everyone could see that. It's not a technical or performance thing - this is England's best player ever in this position. It's more about his mobility around the pitch. There is no doubt he wasn't free and Gareth took him off relatively early.

"Gareth has a lot of experience managing at these tournaments, but Kane's performances were nowhere near the standards he's set. If it does emerge he was patching himself up, then there might be further questions about why he was picked. It does feel like he was carrying something to me."

Southgate's deference to him was infuriating, especially considering the manager had recently shed his previous image of showing undue loyalty to long-serving players. He logically concluded that Grealish, Jordan Henderson, Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford were not right for the tournament, so why couldn't he see that Kane had to be taken out of the team after underperforming time and time again?

Southgate's long working relationship with Kane must have been a big factor in why he was so reluctant to drop him from his line-up or take him off earlier in matches. Southgate has known Kane for more than a decade, first picking him when he was in charge of the England Under-21 side in 2014.

As soon as the final whistle had gone and England's tournament had come to a familiarly painful ending, Southgate started rolling out the excuses about Kane's fitness issues. “Physically it has been tough for him. He came into the tournament short on games and has not quite reached the level we all would have hoped," the coach told ITV.

The manager then effectively admitted that he had kept Kane in the team for so long for reasons of morale and leadership. He added: “He has led the team really well. We have lost a lot of leadership with the injuries to [Jordan] Henderson and [Harry] Maguire, so a lot has fallen on his shoulders.”

Kane's team-mates had pointed to his leadership qualities before the semi-final when his performances were being criticised. “When he’s on the pitch he makes other players feel positive,” Luke Shaw said. “I think we all feel very positive when he’s on the pitch, because he’s our leading goal-scorer. At any time he can score a goal and make that difference. He’s a very important player, he’s our captain."

But having a special status that means you cannot be dropped and subsequently hold the team back is not leadership. Kane did not want to talk about his fitness struggles after the game and hid away from a question from BBC Five Live.

“No, it’s not time to talk about personal things," he said. "The tournament plays out in different situations. You deal with a lot as a player throughout these tournaments. Everyone is dealing with issues and you’re at your maximum physical capabilities. It was just the way the game panned out today and the way the tournament’s gone.

“Of course, from a personal point of view, I would have loved to have played better tonight and it would’ve been a different outcome, but unfortunately it wasn’t.”

Kane reiterated that he and the players "love the manager" although he did not make a direct appeal for Southgate to stay, fairly pointing out "that's his decision and this is not the time to talk about that now". No wonder Kane loves Southgate: he kept faith with him even though he was a direct obstacle to England winning the tournament. But now a new manager is coming in, the same mistake cannot be made.

The difficult thing for next England manager is deciding who should replace Kane. Watkins was superb from the bench against the Netherlands, but he took a heavy touch when in a good position against Spain and did not come close to testing Unai Simon in half an hour on the pitch.

Watkins has, on the whole, struggled to repeat his excellent displays for Aston Villa on the international stage, doing little when he started the friendlies against Bosnia and Brazil. He has scored four goals in 15 appearances for his country, albeit in just five starts.

Ivan Toney, meanwhile, is a good alternative if not a brilliant one. The Brentford striker is an excellent target man, as well as being an ice-cold penalty taker, and his presence against Slovakia unsettled the opponents. But if he is to be England’s first-choice striker he needs to move to an elite club and get used to playing with top-quality team-mates.

It is not clear whether playing Toney would lead to the expansive football many England fans crave after seeing them muddle through the tournament before being outclassed by Spain. There are, though, few truly enticing options beyond Toney and Watkins.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Callum Wilson have been plagued by injuries of late, while Dominic Solanke is a possibility after scoring 19 goals for Bournemouth last season, although he has not played for the Three Lions since making his debut in 2017.

When it comes to goals, no player can compete with Kane, who scored 44 in all competitions for Bayern last season and landed the European Golden Shoe. But England cannot continue to be so in thrall to a player with growing fitness concerns.

Perhaps England need to take a different approach and join many other sides in playing without a typical centre-forward. Germany used Kai Havertz as a ‘false nine’ during the Euros and only turned to natural centre-forward Niclas Fullkrug from the bench.Spai n made good use of Alvaro Morata, but he was taken off in the final for Mikel Oyarzabal, who is not your typical central striker but ended up winning the game.

Copa America champions Argentina, meanwhile, utilise Julian Alvarez as their most advanced forward, though he has worked best for Manchester City when playing in partnership with Erling Haaland, usually in a slightly deeper role. Within the last two years Alvarez has helped fire La Albiceleste to a World Cup and Copa America.

At club level, Real Madrid played much of last season without a striker, using Jude Bellingham as their chief goal-getter between wing wizards Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo, and it led to them winning the Champions League and La Liga.

England might lack centre-forward options, but there is no shortage of attacking talent, as demonstrated by the fact Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon and Jarrod Bowen couldn’t start a match between them at the Euros while Rashford couldn’t even make the squad. They could, then, try playing Bellingham in the 'false nine' role he played for Madrid going forward, which in turn would allow the new coach to get another creative attacker on the field.

What England need above all, however, is a flexible approach and fresh thinking. The last thing they need is to always look to Kane, especially when he is clearly not fit.