Sergio Ramos has singled out Harry Kane as England’s star man and claimed that he has been “surprised” by the technical ability of the Tottenham talisman.
Ahead of the Nations League tie against England on Monday night, Spain’s captain was asked which of his opponents had the technical skills to compete in La Liga.
“Let’s start with Harry Kane,” said Ramos, as quoted by the Sun. “He’s also physically, a fantastic striker but technically he surprises you. He surprises a lot of people, but not me.
“He is great technically but there are also other great technical players and that’s why they are dangerous. I can assure you we have been studying the videos.”
OPINION
Was it a ‘come and join me in Madrid’ tactic? Or maybe an attempt to unsettle Kane? It may be both or neither – but it was seemingly deliberate that Ramos named only Kane individually in his assessment of an England team which he said had a “fantastic World Cup where they were semi-finalists and showed a lot of personality despite being a young team”. The Spurs man has not scored for six England matches in a barren spell that Ramos hopes to extend after helping to shut out the striker during Spain’s 2-1 win over England at Wembley last month. However, Ramos has experienced first hand how good Kane can be, particularly in Tottenham’s Champions League group matches against Real last season when the Londoners took four points out of six off the side who went on to lift the trophy. Kane’s ungainly running style can make him look a touch unsophisticated, but he is excellent technically, with the ability to unhinge defences in many different ways.