England captain Harry Kane looks set to miss their international friendly against Brazil at Wembley Stadium on Saturday evening.
Kane will not be risked for Bayern Munich’s match against Brazil at Wembley after sustaining an ankle injury during their 5-2 victory over Darmstadt last weekend.
The former Tottenham striker might also be unable to attend Tuesday’s Wembley friendly against Belgium.
The game is the last one before England manager Gareth Southgate announces his squad for Euro 2024, but Kane isn’t concerned about his seat on the plane to Germany in June.
Jordan Henderson, a midfielder for Ajax, and Cole Palmer, a forward for Chelsea, are still with the England team but will not play in the sold-out match due to injury.
Due to an injury, Arsenal forward Bukayo Saka was left out of Southgate’s team on Thursday.
“Tomorrow no Harry Kane, no Jordan Henderson, no Cole Palmer,” England boss Southgate said.
“I would say Cole and Hendo have a better chance of Belgium than Harry. He’d be extremely doubtful for that.”
Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney now have an opportunity to compete for the position of England’s record goal scorer’s backup in the Euros, although Kane’s absence is disappointing.
Toney made just one appearance for England, coming off the bench against Ukraine at this time last year, whereas Watkins has three goals in nine international matches.
Shortly after, the Brentford striker started an eight-month Football Association ban, and he was called up at the first chance.
“Well, that is a decision we will have to make because clearly a nine is a specialist position,” Southgate said when asked how many strikers he would take to the Euros.
“They have different attributes and that would depend a little bit on injury status in other positions in the squad and also having perhaps players that can play more than one role.
“I think both of them are aware that the opportunity is a big one. But they’re both in good form, they’ve both had time with us.
“Ollie’s been with us more recently, of course, and has done well in the games he’s played. He’s had a fabulous season for his club.
“Ivan since he’s come back into Brentford’s team has had the impact we expected him to, so they are two very good players.”
In their first game as head coach Dorival Junior’s assistant, England is the favourites to defeat Brazil, which is still in the rebuilding stages.
The Selecao is hoping to avoid losing four straight games for the first time since 2001, despite winning ten of their previous 11 friendly against teams from Europe.
“I’m reading that we’ve only beaten Brazil four times out of 26 games, something like that,” Southgate said.
“There are lots of matches against big opponents that we don’t have outstanding records against that this team have managed to beat – Italy twice being an example, Spain.
“So, it’s another opportunity for us to put a marker down, create a little bit more history for these boys.
“But also we’re going to be tested in every aspect of our game, and that’s going to be a great challenge for us.”
