Harry Kane retirement fears raised by former England star ahead of Euro 2024

Former England midfielder Jermaine Jenas has voiced his concerns over the prospect of Harry Kane hanging up his boots on international football, particularly with Euro 2024 just around the corner.

The tournament is set to kick off in a mere fortnight, with England's first match against Slovenia scheduled for June 16, and Southgate's squad is tipped as one of the top contenders for the title.

Jenas, who earned his England stripes at the 2006 World Cup, spoke candidly to the Mirror about the national team's trajectory in recent tournaments and the potential impact of Kane's retirement from international play.

While discussing England's chances, Jenas expressed his unease: "I mean I don't think it's win or bust for the group," before highlighting the significance of Kane's role. "If you think about it from the Russia World Cup the last year Euros, it's evolved and getting stronger. I don't feel like until probably like Harry Kane decides to call it a day. I think that that'll be the first big 'oomph'. I mean, I think Raheem's, loss, in my opinion, is quite a big one as well."

The pundit, now a familiar face on television, remains optimistic about the talent within the squad, suggesting that they have the potential to "achieve something special".

"But at the same time, the team is still look solid, we've had some good youth coming through, players like Cole Palmer, Foden's a year better, Bellingham's gone on to do mad things, so we just seem to be filling those gaps anyways," he added.

"But I think in terms of being kind of like win or bust tournament football is the same for everyone. But I think that question is probably better aimed at the manager than it is the players.

"The players will go on and I think they're going to achieve something special at some point. I think the manager will have the decisions make on the end of this tournament as to what he does if they don't win it yet."