Harry Kane has hailed it and “amazing honour” that he will be leading his country at a World Cup after being being named England captain for next month’s tournament.
Harry was confirmed as Three Lions skipper by manager Gareth Southgate during a team meeting at St George’s Park on Monday after long been favourite to land the prestigious role.
However Southgate has rotated the captaincy since taking over in 2016 in a bid to encourage shared responsibility and now with just 23 days to go before the competition gets under way in Russia, Kane has emerged as the nation’s figurehead, edging out Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson.
“To be leading the lads out is going to be special,” Kane said as he and Southgate appeared in a live stream on England’s official Twitter feed.”Obviously you always dream of playing for England, growing up. To be the captain is that little bit more. It’s an amazing honour.
He added:”(I’m) so excited, obviously excited for the World Cup. I just can’t wait to be there and experience it. But for me nothing changes – I’m the same person, the same player, and it’s just about the team. We’ve just got to do what we can and go as far as we can.”
Kane also added on his personal Twitter account: “A very proud day. It means a lot to me to be named @England captain. A massive thanks to family, friends and fans who have supported me through thick and thin.”
Kane skippered England for the first time in the qualifier against Scotland last June and went on to do so on three further occasions and he has made no secret of the fact he was up for the job on a more permanent basis and made all the right impressions on Southgate, a man who captained all of his professional clubs and knows plenty about the expectations the post entails.
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“Harry has some outstanding personal qualities. He is a meticulous professional and one of the most important things for a captain is that they set the standard every day,”:he said.
Southgate added: “He has belief and high standards and it is a great message for the team to have a captain who has shown that it is possible to be one of the best in the world over a consistent period of time and that has been his drive.
My feeling is that over the last 18 months in the camps that he’s been with us he has shown that he has got the desire to take that into a team environment and he recognises the importance of bringing others with him.”
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