‘I have my reservations’ – Tony Adams tells Southgate to take drastic action against Harry Kane

Former Arsenal star Tony Adams has suggested that England manager Gareth Southgate should strip Harry Kane of the national team captaincy and hand it to Declan Rice.

Kane has not been at his best for England in his recent outings and Adams feels that Southgate will not be able to drop the Spurs star because of him being the captain.

Dropping the captain because of poor performances can send the wrong message and therefore the England manager will have to persist with the 29-year-old regardless of his form.

While Rice has done really well for England in the Euros, the West Ham star has a lot of time to continue his development and take over the captaincy duties in the near future.

For now, Kane seems like the ideal option to lead the side. The Spurs star will lead England in the World Cup as well.

Adams wrote in the Sun: “Harry Kane is a great player,  a top goalscorer, commands total respect from his team-mates and is rightly the first name on the England team sheet.

“So far, so good, but I have my reservations about him as captain. It’s not because I doubt his abilities as a leader but if Gareth Southgate ever needs to change things he cannot take Harry off.

“All strikers have a bad day occasionally, even Harry, but nothing looks worse to the rest of the team than if the skipper is subbed.

“You look across to the bench, see your leader sitting there and it sends a bad message. Consequently, Harry stays on when it might be detrimental to the team. Ok, that might not be very often, but it does happen.

“Personally, I’d have given the captaincy to Declan Rice. I love his character, he had a fantastic Euros, and you know he’s going to give you 90 minutes. Don’t forget the last time we won it we had a West Ham captain so it makes perfect sense!”.

The Three Lions started their World Cup campaign with a 6-2 win over Iran in their group opener and Kane was quite impressive for his side despite not managing to get on the scoresheet.

The Spurs ace produced two quality assists and caused a lot of problems for the Iran defence with his movement and crossing.

Kane remains a world-class player who can win matches all on his own and he will be hoping to lead England to glory in the World Cup.