Football General Manager
- Prolific frontman is skipper of his country
- Talismanic presence for Bundesliga champions
- Questions asked of his leadership skills
Kane, who is the Three Lions’ all-time leading goalscorer with 73 international efforts to his name, finally broke his trophy curse with Bayern Munich in 2024-25. He is now a Bundesliga title winner.
Kane had fallen at the final hurdle on a number of occasions before getting over that line, with League Cup and Champions League heartache being endured during his time at Tottenham. He also had to settle for runners-up medals at two European Championships.
The 31-year-old has continued to fill the armband for England, while helping to keep Bayern in contention for major honours, but his leadership skills have been called into question amid accusations of going missing in big games.
Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has told talkSPORT: “I don’t think he’s a leader. I think he’s a great player. I don’t think he’s a great leader.”
After seeing it suggested that Kane “leads by example”, Jordan added: “That’s a form of leadership. I suppose they’ve never won anything under him, and in competitions like the Champions League in 2019 they didn’t even turn up in the final against Liverpool. He didn’t turn up in that game.
“There’s been instances in the other games where he hasn’t scored against the bigger opposition that question him. But I don’t think you can question Harry Kane as a footballer. I think you can question him as a leader.
“I think Antonio Conte made it very clear to Daniel Levy as part of his little departing salvo that he thought there was not a single leader in that dressing room.”
Kane, who has congratulated the Lionesses on reaching another major final at Euro 2025, will have more international honours in his sights next summer as Thomas Tuchel guides England towards the 2026 World Cup.
