Kane will fight on but England exit may be best for all concerned

While record scorer is highly unlikely to walk away, time is not on his side and the team may benefit from a clean slate

- Barney Ronay

Well, that's probably a relief in the end isn't it? As England gear up for the thrillingly room-temperature double header against Greece and Finland it is hard to feel much disappointment at the news Harry Kane is likely to play, at best, a very minor role.

All the better to rest his aching ankle, tortured back and whirring brain, the ligaments that creak and crack like a ship's rigging, at least until the slog of club football resumes next week.

It has, after all, been 13 years, with 650 professional games and five hugely gruelling England tournaments. Through this Kane's management of the biting point of his own body has been a constant sub-narrative, to the extent there is now something unbearably tender about watching those joints and levers gamely firing up once again.

The current groin issue is Kane's 12th major injury since the beginning of 2019. He always comes back quickly, and often shows it. When he finally does shuffle off, Kane's body should probably be retained on display in the National Football Museum, preserved like a dusty Victorian albatross, a monument to exploring the far limits of your own talent and physique.

It is probably just that feeling of strain, plus the understandable desire to see new things, that explains why his absence for these games feels like a blessing. Kane remains England's most successful modern player. He has gone all in with this, has loved it, has pegged his sporting existence around the England identity. Kane is basically England's dad in the modern era.

But do we really want to see the old patterns right now: the same shapes and movements, the standard goal in each game (a penalty, a ping into the corner), the Kane iconography of the past eight years? With this in mind, here is a thought. It's not actually going to happen. But there is a fair case that both Kane and England would be better off if he retired from international football.