Thomas Tuchel believes Harry Kane’s move to Bayern Munich has taken him to a new level with the England captain set to match a long-standing Three Lions record against Czechia on Tuesday night.
Kane comes into the Nations League clash one short of Peter Shilton’s all-time appearance record of 125 and will equal the former Southampton and Nottingham Forest goalkeeper’s mark when he leads England out at Wembley.
The 33-year-old, who netted twice in Saturday’s 7-0 hammering of Croatia to increase his England record tally to 89, joined Bayern from Tottenham in 2023 and has helped the club to two Bundesliga titles and one DFB-Pokal.
Former Bayern boss Tuchel said: ”I’m not sure I have anymore words [for Kane].
“He’s on the shortlist for the Ballon d’Or. We’ve spoken so often about him and I try to find new words which then make no sense!
“Everything he does, he does it on the highest level, he does it consecutively and I am very sure he will be the one leading the team out onto the training pitch, he will lead the team in the warm-up and not do one step less or one step slower. That is the level he has.
“Since he took this major role for Bayern Munich, he found a new level. It’s the highest level, on and off the pitch.”
England star Kane a goalscoring machine
Kane’s numbers continue to mark him out as one of the best number nines of his generation.
He is second on the all-time Premier League goalscoring list with 213 and has hit another 152 in just 154 games in all competitions for Bayern.
“All these number nines in world football, no matter in which league, they are built a bit different,” added Tuchel.
“They don’t only do it so their team wins, they also do it for themselves and for the records, ‘how many can I score? How many can I assist? Where is the next record?’
“That’s what drives them and it’s good that drives them. You will not find a striker of this calibre who does not have these individual goals.”
England suffer injury blows with Scott and Konsa ruled out
It wasn’t all good news for Tuchel on Monday, though, with Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott and Arsenal defender Ezri Konsa having to return to their clubs due to injury.
Konsa’s is not thought to be serious but Scott could be facing up to two months on the sidelines with a quad issue.
“With Alex, it’s a strange one, I’m very sad about it,” said Tuchel. “He trained in full before Croatia, did extra work after the training sessions, we knew he was in treatment but there were only green lights from him and the medics.
“When we were aware there was slight discomfort during the match and asked if he wanted to come off he said no. After the match, he said he could have played 90 minutes and didn’t feel an injury.
“Even before the scan he didn’t feel injured so it’s a strange one. There was zero risk taken from our side.”
Bournemouth unhappy at Scott injury
Bournemouth are thought to be unhappy with England’s treatment of Scott and Tuchel has sympathy with the Premier League strugglers.
“On a human level, I feel bad that he does not get his next cap tomorrow,” he said. “In my mind, he [would have] started tomorrow.
“I would not have taken any risk, even if it was a big opportunity for him. We wanted him to start but if we had the slightest idea it was a risk [to play him], we would not have taken it. We never do this. We – the medical and physical department – are always in communication with all the players who are with us.
“We share information, this is a totally open process. I can understand that Bournemouth are not happy because they lose a key player. But I can just say that from the moment we took the decision there was absolutely no risk apparent to me or our physical staff. It’s a one off.”
On Konsa, Tuchel added: “Ezri felt discomfort when he came into camp, played with it against Spain and it got a bit worse so he stayed in camp and tried everything for the match against Czechia and it came too soon.
“He tried everything for the game in Croatia, got the green light and came through all the training sessions so was ready to play.
“Unfortunately, he got another hit on the quad and that caused a light trauma and we decided not to let him play through this pain, so he left camp to get treatment for both his issues now. I think nothing major but not worth the risk taking.
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