Gareth Southgate reveals Harry Kane’s cheeky England request

England head coach Gareth Southgate revealed Harry Kane wanted to take their penalty in Monday’s 3-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina with his first touch.

The Three Lions ramped up their preparations for Euro 2024 with a comfortable victory at St James’ Park, scoring three times a dominant second-half display.

Cole Palmer opened the scoring from 12 yards after the hosts were handed a penalty following a VAR check for a tug on Ezri Konsa during a corner routine. Trent Alexander-Arnold and substitute Kane grabbed goals of their own later on.

However, Southgate has claimed Kane, who came on after Palmer coolly converted his spot kick, wanted to take the penalty himself.

“[Kane] had the audacity to ask to come on and to score the penalty which was never going to happen,” Southgate revealed in his post-match press conference.

“The plan for him today was to have half an hour and then he will start on Friday [against Iceland].

“I thought the intensity of the game was good. We had players that needed minutes and we needed a competitive game. The opposition was dogged so we had to be patient and keep probing – we felt our quality would tell. There was some good individual performances and hopefully we have come through with no issues.”

Kane made his return to action having missed the back-end of the club season with Bayern Munich due to a back injury. As Southgate mentioned, the England captain is in line to start their last pre-Euros friendly on Friday when they take on Iceland at Wembley. The Three Lions begin their Euro 2024 campaign on June 16 against Serbia.

Though it did not yield any silverware, Kane enjoyed a phenomenal first season at Bayern following his £86m move from Tottenham Hotspur, contributing 44 goals and 12 assists in 45 games.