England captain Harry Kane has revealed he would not have been fully fit for the 2020 European Championship had it taken place as scheduled this summer.
The tournament was due to be played across June and July but was put back by a year following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, just days after the Premier League was brought to an indefinite halt.
Prior to the postponements, Kane was facing a battle to return to Premier League action before the season’s end with a view to competing in this summers European Championships. The 26-year-old hasn’t played since suffering a surgery-requiring ruptured hamstring tendon on New Year’s Day.
The forward has since made a full recovery from his long-term injury and will be available to play for Tottenham if and when Premier League football does return – with a June resumption remaining the target.
However, Kane now admits he would have been struggling for full fitness if the European Championships were still going ahead.
“With all the injuries I’ve had, I’ve never rushed them,” Kane told talkSPORT. “Whenever I’ve come back, I’ve always felt ready to play. I’ve always gone through the protocols and had to do clearance to make sure I can do everything.
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“But with this one, looking at it now we had the Euros coming up so I guess I probably wouldn’t have been fully fit in terms of loads of training or games. So in that respect you could probably say it’s benefited me.
“The injury feels fine, so whenever we do come back it will have had more than enough time to heal.”