Arsenal legend Martin Keown has questioned why some England fans “already want to get rid of Harry Kane” with Cristiano Ronaldo still playing for Portugal.
Not everyone was convinced with Kane’s performances at Euro 2024 in the summer, which saw England lose in the final to Spain, while his display against Republic of Ireland in their first Nations League group match wasn’t glowing.
Kane should have scored one of his three good chances against Ireland with Declan Rice and Jack Grealish scoring the goals as England won 2-0 on Saturday.
Keown capitalised on a mistake from former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan on Monday as he questioned why Kane was being targeted for criticism.
On Kane, former Arsenal defender Keown said on talkSPORT: “Are we getting the best from our captain?
“I’m looking at Cristiano Ronaldo last night playing for Portugal at almost 40 years of age, he’s loved and put on a pedestal and we already want to get rid of Harry Kane.
“I think we should be hanging onto those players and we shouldn’t be dismissing them, he’s [interim manager Lee Carsley] going to need to work with all these players and get the best from them, but, from a tactical point of view – find a way for us to get the ball in midfield and develop the play.”
Jordan interrupted and said: “They didn’t play Ronaldo during the Euros, he was on the bench a lot of the time.”
To which Keown replied: “What are you on about? He started every game! Where were you, on your boat? Don’t comment on that then if you don’t know.”
Jordan added: “I don’t think he did. My recollection isn’t that he started every game.”
Ronaldo did in fact start every match for Portugal at Euro 2024 and stayed on the pitch for four out of five of those fixtures before they lost in the quarter-finals.
Unfazed, Jordan continued: “What you’re saying is that Harry Kane should be beyond reproach, but Harry Kane is not in the same zip code as Ronaldo.
“The comparison between those two is ridiculous, and up until relatively recently Ronaldo has been impactful in pretty much every game he played in.
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“Harry Kane hasn’t been recently, so I think it’s a fair assessment that he shouldn’t be beyond reproach, and I’m pretty sure Ronaldo wasn’t in the line up, or as regularly featured as before during the Euros, so there is a comparison between two.
“What you’re saying is, ‘England fans, pack it in, you’ve got a hero’, yeah, absolutely right, but we live in a world in the here and now and footballers have to deliver on every occasion. Ronaldo is a different animal to compare him to.”
But Keown wouldn’t end the debate there, he hit back: “It’s interesting, your recollection of the Euros is different to mine, for me he started every match and never scored a single goal in the competition.
“We’re comparing and we want to write off Harry Kane when Portugal are quite happy to hold onto their star player who’s past his best.”
And Jordan managed to have the final say on the matter, he said: “Not at all, you’re taking it to the extreme. What we want to judge Harry Kane by is the same standards as every other footballer – you’re in that team on merit, you want things in life on merit so Kane must be on merit, but he’s not playing well at the moment.”
