Paul Scholes believes Harry Kane ‘looked out of place’ in England’s final Nations League game and feels it’s ‘the beginning of the end’ for the Three Lions captain in the national side.
Kane came off the bench as a second-half substitute in the 3-0 win away to Greece last Thursday before returning to the starting line-up for England’s 5-0 victory against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley on Sunday.
The Bayern Munich striker initially struggled to make an impact against Ireland before the penalty and red card early in the second half opened up the game for England.
Kane has scored 17 goals in 16 games for Bayern this season but Scholes believes the 31-year-old is already on borrowed time in an England shirt.
‘It felt like the end of Kane,’ Scholes said on The Overlap’s Stick To Football.
‘Do you know, the beginning of the end. He looked out of place.’
When he was reminded that Kane is only 31 years old, Scholes replied: ‘I know, he just looks that way though, doesn’t he?
‘When you get old you feel everything is happening a bit quicker around you. It looked a bit like that.
‘But I don’t know who would replace him.’
Gary Neville added: ‘Alan Shearer near the end was a bit like that as well, wasn’t he?’
Scholes replied: ‘Yeah, and he retired for England at what, 31, 30?’
Neville then said: ‘And Wazza [Wayne Rooney] to an extent. He started dropping deeper, starting being less effective, Wazza used to do that turn and run, he started to drop deeper and passing.’
Ian Wright then asked Scholes about Kane’s pass to Jude Bellingham in the second half of England’s win against the Republic of Ireland which led to the penalty in the second half.
‘Do you think he meant that?’ asked Scholes.
‘I thought he meant to lift it though. If he has meant that, that’s one of the best passes ever.’
Neville, however, believes Kane’s influence in the team will naturally diminish as he gets older.
‘You come into the team at the very beginning and you end up basically playing every other game because you get left out, you come in, you get left out, obviously you’re working your way to becoming a regular, and that’s what happens, then you become a regular,’ Neville said.
‘Then at the end it should happen the same again, in and out [of the team].
‘I don’t understand why there has to be this stark, ‘it’s the end’. It’s not, it’s basically similar to the beginning where you don’t play every game, you play one in three or one in two.’
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