Gary Neville makes Harry Kane prediction ahead of England friendlies as Red Devils legend slams ‘badly placed’ March internationals

Clubs from around the world have released their players for the March round of internationals, the majority of which are friendlies, with just two months to go in the season. Neville has criticised the timing of the international window and predicted that Kane, who has scored 37 goals in all competitions and is crucial to Bayern's hopes of winning the Champions League, could miss England's second match with Belgium in order to be as sharp as possible for the crunch stage of the campaign.

“I think Harry Kane might pull out the second game. He might play one game or do a deal," Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast, in collaboration with Sky Bet. "We refer to it because of [Erling] Haaland and [Kevin] De Bruyne. I called it a couple of weeks ago – I said there’ll be pull outs in March, and straight away the two best players for City are out. It’s a badly placed international break, during a title run in. Push it into early December or August, but I don’t think it should split the season."

Kevin De Bruyne missed Manchester City's FA Cup quarter-final tie with Newcastle with a groin problem and is not part of Belgium's squad for their fixtures against Ireland and England. Erling Haaland was seen limping out of a training session for Norway although he is still with the squad ahead of their friendlies against Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Neville has revealed that he and his fellow Manchester United players would be encouraged to drop out of international squads so they could be fresh for the title run-in. He added: “I always think about the March international break because this is where Sir Alex Ferguson would pull players out of playing for their country. Sir Alex hated the March international break. If it was a proper qualifier the boss wouldn’t have any issues with us playing, but if it was a friendly in the March break, he wasn’t having it."

Kane is preparing for the friendlies with Brazil and Belgium with England and will then head back to Germany for Bayern's league fixtures against Borussia Dortmund and Heidenheim. He will then return to North London for the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Arsenal.