England star Harry Kane: ‘Being captain will not change how I play’

Having hired a personal chef to help him make “little gains” Kane said: “I’m not a big fish fan but he’s got me eating fish”.

Southgate, however, continues to keep his thoughts regarding a full-time successor to the now-retired Wayne Rooney close to his chest.

Kane seemed at ease on Wednesday as he sat alongside Southgate at Tottenham Hotspur’s training ground as England finalised preparations for Slovenia. Even Southgate himself, usually so reticent when it comes to the subject of the England captaincy, was quick to describe Kane as “the kind of role model you want”. “Always positive and wanting me to do better and that’s what I try to repay him on the pitch”. I think it’s really valuable for the players to hear the experiences of former England internationals – their pride and sense of connection to the shirt, some of the lessons, things they would do differently, the reason they thought certain campaigns were successful and others weren’t.

European champions have struggled in striking department lately with their first-choice forward Karim Benzema out of form and it is believed that Harry Kane would add a significant cutting edge to Real Madrid’s front line. It’s not something I definitely want to do, but you never rule anything out. Comparing Pele to Diego Maradona, Firmani said: ‘Maradona was very good, but Pele made everyone else in his team look brilliant too.’ That’s what I’d call world class.

“He’s there every day, Monday to Saturday, and leaves something for Sunday”.

In the qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia last month, Southgate reverted to a 4-2-3-1 formation to solidify his side’s position at the top of the group.

Real Madrid were originally willing to offer €125 million for Kane’s services, but as Eduarda Inda noted in Spanish TV program, El Chiringuito, “Real Madrid are asking for Harry Kane for next season, but you know the price and they are 200 million euros”, Tottenham’s valuation of their striker was much higher. “I want to maintain my performance over a long period of time“.

“I would never say no”, he replied, when asked about the recent round of speculation.

Dele Alli is also unavailable after being handed a one-match Federation Internationale de Football Association suspension after he made an offensive gesture in England’s 2-1 win over Slovakia in their World Cup Qualifier at Wembley in September. Stones, 23, struggled when he joined City from Everton last season, but he has since improved under Guardiola.

Slovenia, who have to win to keep alive their chances of qualification, are without defender Miral Samardzic through injury.

For Slovenia, Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak should start in goal.

“Kane is in an extraordinary form”.

“His leadership qualities are invaluable to us as a team and he is in a good moment”, the Three Lions boss told reporters.